The autophagy pathway is an essential facet of the innate immune response, capable of rapidly targeting intracellular bacteria. However, the initial signaling regulating autophagy induction in response to pathogens remains largely unclear. Here, we report that AMPK, an upstream activator of the autophagy pathway, is stimulated upon detection of pathogenic bacteria, before bacterial invasion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSatellite cells, adult stem cells in skeletal muscle tissue, reside within a mechanically dynamic three-dimensional microenvironment. With each contraction-relaxation cycle, a satellite cell is expected to experience tensile, shear, and compressive stresses, and through cell-extracellular matrix interactions, also gauge the stiffness of the niche. Via mechanoreceptors, cells can sense these biophysical parameters of the niche, which serve to physically induce conformational changes that impact biomolecule activity, and thereby alter downstream signal transduction pathways and ultimately cell fate.
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