Arp2/3-nucleated actin filaments drive crawling motility and phagocytosis in animal cells and slime molds. In this issue, Velle and Fritz-Laylin (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202007158) now show that Naegleria gruberi, belonging to a lineage that diverged from opisthokonts around a billion years ago, uses similar mechanisms to crawl and phagocytose bacteria.

In the Drosophila larval optic lobe, the generation of neural stem cells involves an epithelial-to-mesenchymal–like transition of a continuous stripe of cells that sweeps across the neuroepithelium, but the dynamics at cell and tissue level were unknown until now. In this issue, Shard et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202005035) identify that Neuralized controls a partial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition through regulation of the apical Crumbs complex and through the coordination of cell behaviors such as apical constriction and cell alignment.

The dynamics and functional roles of chromatin-bound RNA during cell division are largely unexplored. In this issue, Sharp et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201910148) found that a mitosis-specific signal evicts RNA-bound SAF-A from chromosomes, and its absence leads to proper chromosome segregation.

Mitophagy has a critical role in maintaining cellular homeostasis by removing damaged mitochondria. In this issue, Yamano et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201912144) uncover that a novel complex of the autophagy adaptor optineurin and the membrane protein ATG9A specifically regulate ubiquitin-induced mitophagy.

Athie et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201908078) identify ALAL-1, a lncRNA frequently amplified or overexpressed in lung cancer, as an oncogenic driver, capable of promoting the proliferation and altering the immunogenicity of lung cancer cells.

Pluripotent stem cells differentiate with varying efficiencies depending on the method of reprogramming that created them. In this issue, Paniza et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201909163) demonstrate that cells with lower differentiation potential retain some features of somatic DNA replication origin utilization and suffer more frequent DNA damage.

Necroptosis is a cell death pathway involved in inflammation and disease. In this issue, Ko et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201912047) link SARM1, the executioner of Wallerian degeneration of axons, to necroptosis, revealing a unique form of axonal disassembly likely involved in neurodegenerative disorders.

Invadopodia are dynamic protrusions that harbor matrix metalloproteinases for pericellular matrix degradation. However, the mechanisms underlying their maturation are poorly understood. Pedersen et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202003063) demonstrate a dual role of Protrudin in invadopodia elongation and matrix degradation, central to cell invasion and cancer metastasis.

In this issue, Raso et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202002175) uncover a novel replication fork speed regulatory network controlled by the ubiquitin-like modifier interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), which plays a central role in the innate immune response and regulates tumorigenesis as well as chemotherapy response.

Lee et al. (2020. Nat. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-019-0459-2) and, in this issue, Tomioka et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201910063) describe the targeted degradation of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) by selective autophagy, providing insight into the mechanisms of turnover for individual nucleoporins and entire NPCs.

In this issue, Choudhary et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201910177) address the nature of the ER subdomain from which lipid droplets emanate and how several assembly proteins interact. Their data indicate that seipin/Nem1 marks these sites and provide a detailed working model for assembling the protein complex.