[left to right: Duarte Barral, Miguel Seabra, Alistair Hume]
Two papers from Miguel Seabra, principal investigator of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease Lab, and his team, including Duarte Barral, principal investigator of Membrane Traffic in Disease Lab, and Alistair Hume, principal investigator of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, feature a collection of classic papers on trafficking and organelles of Journal of Cell Biology (JCB).
This collection of papers is part of the special series of historical collections put together to celebrate JCB's 65th anniversary.
The papers chosen to spotlight the trafficking and organelles collection are field-defining work informing cell biologists about organelle biogenesis and function, membrane traffic, protein sorting, quality control, and host–pathogen interactions at membranes.
The work developed over the years by Seabra's team contributed to lay ground on how organelle identity is established, identifying new roles for Rab GTPases in intracellular trafficking and rare diseases affecting a group of cellular compartments called lysosome-related organelles.
Regarding this distinction, Miguel Seabra commented “It was with great joy that I learned that two articles from my team were chosen for this selection of classics. After this initial layer of joy, I realized that it was an honor to see our work distinguished by international peers and truly the result of our professional mission of serving society through knowledge”. Duarte Barral added “It is great to see the impact of our research recognized, which can take some time. I was fortunate to be a member of Seabra's group at a time when this area of research was exploding and we were at the center of the action”.
The Hume A. et al article was chosen for the cover of the JCB Volume 152, Issue 4 on February 2001.
>> This image shows that Rab27a GTPase associates with melanosomes and regulates their transport to, and retention in, the peripheral cytoplasm in skin melanocytes. Melanosome transport also requires the microtubule and actin cytoskeleton. Staining of a cultured murine melanocyte for filamentous actin (red) and microtubules (blue) reveals a close relationship between Rab27a-labelled melanosomes (green) and these cytoskeletal elements."
Find the two papers selected on the following links:
- Jane C. Stinchcombe, Duarte C. Barral, Emilie H. Mules, Sarah Booth, Alistair N. Hume, Laura M. Machesky, Miguel C. Seabra, Gillian M. Griffiths; Rab27a Is Required for Regulated Secretion in Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes. J Cell Biol 19 February 2001; 152 (4): 825–834. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.152.4.825
- Alistair N. Hume, Lucy M. Collinson, Andrzej Rapak, Anita Q. Gomes, Colin R. Hopkins, Miguel C. Seabra; Rab27a Regulates the Peripheral Distribution of Melanosomes in Melanocytes. J Cell Biol 19 February 2001; 152 (4): 795–808. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.152.4.795