Membrane tension maintains cell polarity by confining signals to the leading edge during neutrophil migration.

Little is known about how neutrophils and other cells establish a single zone of actin assembly during migration. A widespread assumption is that the leading edge prevents formation of additional fronts by generating long-range diffusible inhibitors or by sequestering essential polarity components. We use morphological perturbations, cell-severing experiments, and computational simulations to show that diffusion-based mechanisms are not sufficient for long-range inhibition by the pseudopod.

Compete globally, bud locally.

How cells generate a single axis of polarity for mating, division, and movement is unknown. In this issue, Howell et al. (2009) use a synthetic biology approach to demonstrate that rapid competition for a soluble signaling component (Bem1) is essential to ensure a unique axis of polarity in budding yeast.

Neutrophils establish rapid and robust WAVE complex polarity in an actin-dependent fashion.

Asymmetric intracellular signals enable cells to migrate in response to external cues. The multiprotein WAVE (also known as SCAR or WASF) complex activates the actin-nucleating Arp2/3 complex [1-4] and localizes to propagating "waves," which direct actin assembly during neutrophil migration [5, 6]. Here, we observe similar WAVE complex dynamics in other mammalian cells and analyze WAVE complex dynamics during establishment of neutrophil polarity.

Short strong hydrogen bonds in proteins: a case study of rhamnogalacturonan acetylesterase.

An extremely low-field signal (at approximately 18 p.p.m.

Cooperative hydrogen bonding effects are key determinants of backbone amide proton chemical shifts in proteins.

A computational methodology for backbone amide proton chemical shift (delta(H)) predictions based on ab initio quantum mechanical treatment of part of the protein is presented. The method is used to predict and interpret 13 delta(H) values in protein G and ubiquitin. The predicted amide-amide delta(H) values are within 0.