Versatility of a Cellular Signaling Scaffold: The Inositol Ring Rules! – Honorary Special Issue Commemorating the Work of Prof. Lucio I. M. Cocco

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is collated in the honor of Prof. Lucio I. M. Cocco’s seminal work and we have been given the opportunity to interview Prof. Lucio Cocco (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/biomolecules/announcements/5763). His work began in the late 1970s with his identification of nuclear phospholipids. During the following decade, Lucio pursued a new concept of the pools of inositol lipids with distinct cell signaling activities present within the nuclear matrix. He and his colleagues subsequently published a considerable and highly influential body of work that has furthered the understanding of the role of this nuclear signaling pathway during myogenic differentiation, giving new insights into its role in myotonic dystrophies, as well as during haemopoietic differentiation, and envisaging the pathophysiological significance of nuclear phosphoinositide signaling in myelodysplastic syndromes.

The phosphate group is a fundamental and ubiquitous device that establishes specificity and affinity for the interactions between cellular signaling entities. To this end, both the proteins and small molecules offer themselves as signal transduction platforms that switch on and off in response to their phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. However, there is one molecule in particular, myo-inositol, that belies its apparent simplicity by hosting multiple phosphate recognition patterns that yield an extraordinary degree of functional versatility. The combinatorial placement of the phosphate groups around the inositol ring is replicated in both freely diffusible inositol phosphates and the membrane-fixed inositol lipids. It is frequently noted that the specialized physico-chemical properties of these phosphorylated inositols impact almost every known aspect of eukaryotic biology. Consequently, the kinases and phosphatases that create and degrade these signaling molecules are actively pursued as therapeutic targets for improving human health.

This Special Issue will focus on the most recent and seminal developments in this wide-ranging field, from the atomic level (analysis of protein structures), through molecular and cellular biology, to whole-organism physiology. Descriptions of new analytical reagents, methodological advances and the status of drug-development programs will also feature prominently. Both research and review articles are welcome.

Dr. Stephen Shears
Prof. Dr. Pavel Hozák
Guest Editors

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