Monther Abu-Remaileh, Chii Jou Chan, Leilei Chen, Gozde S. Demirer, Ana Fiszbein, Florian Jug, Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco, Raphaëlle Luisier, Julia Pagan, Benjamin R. Sabari, Sichen Shao, Liming Sun, Jan J. Żylicz
{"title":"Visions of the future of molecular cell biology","authors":"Monther Abu-Remaileh, Chii Jou Chan, Leilei Chen, Gozde S. Demirer, Ana Fiszbein, Florian Jug, Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco, Raphaëlle Luisier, Julia Pagan, Benjamin R. Sabari, Sichen Shao, Liming Sun, Jan J. Żylicz","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00892-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41580-025-00892-7","url":null,"abstract":"To celebrate the journal’s 25th anniversary, we asked 13 researchers to offer a glimpse of what their research field might look like in 2050. They consider how technological breakthroughs — for example, artificial intelligence-powered virtual cells — could transform our understanding of how molecules, organelles and cells behave in different contexts, revolutionize therapies and enable the design of resilient crops.","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"26 10","pages":"735-740"},"PeriodicalIF":90.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145111432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"AI will create the next generation of user-friendly interfaces.","authors":"Helder I Nakaya","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00900-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00900-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":112.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145078216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mechanisms of human germ cell development","authors":"Mitinori Saitou, Masahiro Nagano, Ken Mizuta","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00893-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00893-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Human germ cells are the foundation of human reproduction and development, ensuring heredity and contributing to genetic diversity. Accordingly, their anomalies lead to critical diseases, including infertility. Recent advances in genomics and stem cell-based in vitro gametogenesis research have expanded our knowledge of how human germ cells are specified and differentiate during embryonic and fetal development, elucidating evolutionarily distinctive as well as conserved properties of human germ cell development. Here, based on the evidence from both in vivo and in vitro studies, we provide an integrated review of the progress in our understanding of human embryonic and fetal germ cell development, encompassing germ cell specification, epigenetic reprogramming and sex-specific germ cell development. Knowledge of the mechanisms of human germ cell development will enable its in vitro reconstitution, which in turn will serve as a foundation for innovative medical strategies to prevent germ cell-related diseases, including infertility.</p>","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":112.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145067884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The hunter becomes the hunted in target-directed microRNA degradation","authors":"Katherine McJunkin","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00894-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00894-5","url":null,"abstract":"Two 2010 papers showed that microRNA interactions with certain RNAs result not in target destruction but in the decay of the microRNA.","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":112.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145059294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biomarkers of ageing of humans and non-human primates","authors":"Zeming Wu, Jing Qu, Weiqi Zhang, Guang-Hui Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00883-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00883-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ageing is characterized by progressive functional decline and increase in disease risk and imposes substantial burdens on human health. Identifying aging biomarkers in primates is crucial for advancing our understanding of human ageing and for informing interventions to mitigate age-related pathologies. However, a comprehensive grasp of these biomarkers is still lacking, hindering the translation of fundamental research into clinical practice. In this Review, we present the current knowledge on biomarkers of ageing at the cellular, tissue and organism levels in humans and non-human primates. Through systematic analysis of representative biomarkers across diverse biological contexts and scales, we discuss both the variability and the conservation of ageing-associated physiological changes, underscoring their importance in assessing and intervening in the ageing process. Finally, we critically assess challenges in ageing research and outline strategic avenues for future investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":112.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145031952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Structure, function and assembly of nuclear pore complexes","authors":"Stefan Petrovic, George W. Mobbs, André Hoelz","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00881-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00881-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The defining property of eukaryotic cells is the storage of heritable genetic material in a nuclear compartment. For eukaryotic cells to carry out the myriad biochemical processes necessary for their function, macromolecules must be efficiently exchanged between the nucleus and cytoplasm. The nuclear pore complex (NPC) — which is a massive assembly of ~35 different proteins present in multiple copies totalling ~1,000 protein subunits and architecturally conserved across eukaryotes — establishes a size-selective channel for regulated bidirectional transport of folded macromolecules and macromolecular assemblies across the nuclear envelope. In this Review, we provide an overview of insights gained from recent near-atomic composite structures of the NPC and their importance in advancing our understanding of NPC function. We discuss advances in our understanding of the permeability barrier, modes of nucleocytoplasmic transport, and the mobile transport factors involved. Finally, we present future research directions aimed at elucidating the nuclear basket architecture, mechanisms of mRNA export, NPC biogenesis and mechanosensation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":112.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145017929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Learning about break-induced replication from bacteriophages","authors":"James E. Haber","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00898-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00898-1","url":null,"abstract":"Break-induced replication (BIR), a DNA double-strand break repair mechanism, was first studied in the 1960s in bacteriophages, showing that DNA could recombine by a 'break–copy' mechanism.","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":112.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145018074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The double life of a transcription factor in the cytoplasm","authors":"Eytan Zlotorynski","doi":"10.1038/s41580-025-00901-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41580-025-00901-9","url":null,"abstract":"Independently of its nuclear DNA-binding activity, the transcription factor PXR has a cytoplasmic function: it binds to mRNAs and promotes their stability.","PeriodicalId":19051,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology","volume":"26 10","pages":"732-732"},"PeriodicalIF":90.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41580-025-00901-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145002905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}