Sayantanee Biswas and Kate Kalil illustrate the cover of the Journal of Neuroscience
The cover of the January 10, 2018, Vol. 38, Issue 2 of the Journal of Neuroscience is the work of Sayantanee Biswas and Katherine Kalil.
The description of that figure is as follows:
“This image acquired with super resolution STED microscopy shows a fixed cortical axonal growth cone stained for F-actin (magenta) in the growth cone periphery and microtubules (cyan) in the center. The entry of single microtubules into filopodia and extension along actin filament bundles is regulated by the microtubule associated protein tau. For more information see the article by Biswas and Kalil (pages 291–307).”
Growth cones are the motile tips of growing axons whose guidance behaviors require interaction of the dynamic actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that stabilizes microtubules in neurons and in cell-free systems regulates actin–microtubule interaction. Here, using super resolution microscopy, live-cell imaging, and tau knockdown, we show for the first time in living axonal growth cones that tau is important for microtubule bundling and microtubule exploration of the actin-rich growth cone periphery.