📄 Category

cell biology

361 papers

Cell biology is the study of life at its most fundamental unit: the cell. This field explores how these microscopic building blocks function, communicate, and replicate to sustain living organisms, from the simplest bacteria to complex human tissues. By understanding the machinery inside a cell, scientists unlock secrets about growth, disease, and the very nature of existence itself.

At Gist.Science, we track every new preprint uploaded to bioRxiv within this dynamic category. Our team processes each submission to provide both accessible plain-language explanations and detailed technical summaries, ensuring you can grasp complex discoveries without getting lost in dense jargon. Below are the latest papers in cell biology, offering a fresh look at the inner workings of life as they are shared with the world.

📄 cell biology

Integrated meta-analysis of public human pancreatic single-cell transcriptomes reveals distinct beta-cell state trajectories across aging and diabetes

By integrating over 266,000 human pancreatic cells from 18 public single-cell RNA sequencing datasets, this study constructs a unified atlas that reveals three distinct beta-cell state trajectories driven by aging, diabetes, and metabolic stress, highlighting how beta-cell identity erodes through specific transcriptional programs involving endocrine-exocrine plasticity while alpha-cell states remain relatively stable.

Iich, E.2026-01-29
📄 cell biology

PDZD-8 interacts with LGG-2/LC3 to promote autolysosome formation

This study identifies the endoplasmic reticulum protein PDZD-8 as a novel LGG-2/LC3 interactor that utilizes both its SMP lipid-transfer domain and LIR motif to mediate ER-autophagosome contacts, thereby facilitating the completion of autolysosome formation and maintaining autophagic flux in *C. elegans*.

Pouget, A., Meire, V., Largeau, C., Boulogne, C., Roelens, B., Zea, D. J., Lefebvre, C., Legouis, R., Culetto, E.2026-01-28
📄 cell biology

Leptin Receptor+ cells create a perisinusoidal niche for thrombopoiesis in the bone marrow by synthesizing CXCL14

Leptin Receptor-expressing stromal cells in the bone marrow create a specialized perisinusoidal niche for thrombopoiesis by secreting CXCL14, which remodels lipid metabolism in megakaryocytes to facilitate their terminal differentiation into platelets.

Xue, y., Merchant, S., Reyes, A., Luo, M., Zhang, R., Tippetts, T., Grabowski, G., Ngo, T., Zhang, Y., Shang, Z., Jiang (…)2026-01-28
📄 cell biology

Bacterial extracellular vesicles indirectly destabilize a human stem cell-derived blood-brain barrier on-chip through pro-inflammatory stimulation of immune cells

This study demonstrates that bacterial extracellular vesicles do not directly disrupt a human stem cell-derived blood-brain barrier on-chip but instead indirectly compromise its integrity by stimulating immune cells to release pro-inflammatory cytokines that degrade tight junctions.

Widom, L. P., Torabian, P., Trempel, M. A., McCloskey, M. C., Michel, L. V., McGrath, J. L., Gaborski, T. R.2026-01-26
📄 cell biology

Proteomic composition and mutual assembly of the C2a projection in vertebrate motile cilia

This study utilizes knockout mouse models to define the proteomic composition and mutual assembly requirements of the vertebrate C2a projection, revealing that its components (including newly identified ARMC3 and MYCBP) are interdependent for structural stability and that their dysfunction leads to primary ciliary dyskinesia phenotypes.

Lyu, Q., Li, Q., Li, J., Luo, J., Liu, C., Nai, S., Liu, H., Zhu, X., Song, T., Liu, M., Zhao, H.2026-01-26
📄 cell biology

Biological differences in promyelocytic leukemia (PML) proteins between PML-nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) and extranuclear PML bodies (EnPBs) in arsenite-exposed cells.

This study demonstrates that while short-term arsenic exposure increases PML SUMOylation without altering nuclear body morphology, prolonged exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations stabilizes extranuclear PML bodies (EnPBs) in a low-solubility, non-SUMOylated state, highlighting distinct biological differences between nuclear and extranuclear PML structures.

Hirano, S., Udagawa, O.2026-01-26