Paper from the Stenmark group on the front page of "Journal of Cell Science"
The first author on this work - Alicia Cabezas - was also co-author on the paper "Modulation of Receptor Recycling and Degradation by the Endosomal Kinesin KIF16B", which was published in the May 6th issue of Cell.
More information about the protein "Alix":
The Stenmark group tries to understand how cell signalling is modulated by internalization of growth factor receptors. Internalization of such receptors is followed by their transfer to specialized organelles called endosomes. Alicia Cabezas, a postdoc in Stenmarks group has now identified a protein, called Alix, that controls the spatial distribution of endosomes. Normally, endosomes show a rather peripheral distibution within the cell, but when Alix is depleted, endosomes cluster close to the nucleus. This effect is correlated with a collapse of the cortical actin cytoskeleton that is found underneath the cell membrane. Alix is thus likely to control interactions between endosomes and the cortical actin cytoskeleton, which are required for the proper positioning of endosomes.