About the Cover
Cover image
On the cover: Nephrocytes, the podocyte-like filtration kidney cells in Drosophila, require the Coq2 gene for protein reabsorption, toxin sequestration, and critical cell ultrastructure. Upper left panel shows normal nephrocyte uptake of red fluorescent protein (RFP). Nephrocytes at lower left with Coq2 silenced by RNAi showed severely reduces RFP uptake. Nucleus of the nephrocytes are labeled with a GFP transgene. Ingested silver nitrate (AgNO3) is normally taken up and sequestered by nephrocytes (upper central panel), thereby limiting systemic exposure to the toxic metal. Coq2 gene silencing blocks this function (lower panel). The nephrocyte cell surface is characterized by regularly arrayed filtration structures called the nephrocyte slit diaphragms (NSD), which span the openings of lacunar channels formed by invaginations of the plasma membrane (upper right panel). This regular ultrastructural arrangement is dramatically perturbed by Coq2 gene silencing, which results in aberrantly localized NSD and deformed lacunar channels (lower right). Zhe Han, Children’s National Medical Center, and George Washington University, Washington DC