Mechanosensing through talin 1 contributes to tissue mechanical homeostasis.

It is widely believed that tissue mechanical properties, determined mainly by the extracellular matrix (ECM), are actively maintained. However, despite its broad importance to biology and medicine, tissue mechanical homeostasis is poorly understood. To explore this hypothesis, we developed mutations in the mechanosensitive protein talin1 that alter cellular sensing of ECM stiffness.

Inositol pyrophosphate synthesis by inositol hexakisphosphate kinase 1 is required for homologous recombination repair.

Inositol pyrophosphates, such as diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (IP(7)), are water-soluble inositol phosphates that contain high energy diphosphate moieties on the inositol ring. Inositol hexakisphosphate kinase 1 (IP6K1) participates in inositol pyrophosphate synthesis, converting inositol hexakisphosphate (IP(6)) to IP(7). In the present study, we show that mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) lacking IP6K1 exhibit impaired DNA damage repair via homologous recombination (HR).