Featured
-
-
Letter |
Reconstructing lineage hierarchies of the distal lung epithelium using single-cell RNA-seq
Single-cell transcriptome analysis enables the direct measurement of cell types and lineage hierarchies of the developing distal lung epithelium and identifies a population of bipotential alveolar progenitor cells.
- Barbara Treutlein
- , Doug G. Brownfield
- & Stephen R. Quake
-
Letter |
Broadly permissive intestinal chromatin underlies lateral inhibition and cell plasticity
A study investigating the mechanisms underlying lateral inhibition and lineage plasticity in the mouse small intestine crypts in vivo finds that crypt cells maintain a permissive chromatin state upon which a transcription factor acts to determine lineage specification, and this is the basis of lateral inhibition.
- Tae-Hee Kim
- , Fugen Li
- & Ramesh A. Shivdasani
-
Letter |
EHMT1 controls brown adipose cell fate and thermogenesis through the PRDM16 complex
Brown adipose tissue-enriched lysine methyltransferase EHMT1 is an essential enzyme in the PRDM16–C/EBP-β transcriptional complex that controls brown adipose cell fate and energy metabolism.
- Haruya Ohno
- , Kosaku Shinoda
- & Shingo Kajimura
-
Article |
Myomaker is a membrane activator of myoblast fusion and muscle formation
A muscle-specific membrane protein called myomaker is transiently expressed during myogenesis and is both necessary and sufficient to drive myoblast fusion in vivo and in vitro.
- Douglas P. Millay
- , Jason R. O’Rourke
- & Eric N. Olson
-
Letter |
An Sp1 transcription factor coordinates caspase-dependent and -independent apoptotic pathways
Removal of cells during development in Caenorhabditis elegans requires the precise execution of cell-death programs, which can include both caspase-dependent and -independent pathways; here it is shown that a single upstream transcription factor can drive both, in parallel, to destroy a single cell.
- Takashi Hirose
- & H. Robert Horvitz
-
Letter |
Brown-fat paucity due to impaired BMP signalling induces compensatory browning of white fat
A shortage of constitutive brown adipose tissue is shown to result when brown adipogenic progenitor cells lack a type of BMP receptor; however, this leads to an increase in sympathetic input to white adipose tissue and a compensatory browning of white fat depots.
- Tim J. Schulz
- , Ping Huang
- & Yu-Hua Tseng
-
Letter |
Control of somatic tissue differentiation by the long non-coding RNA TINCR
The human long non-coding RNA TINCR binds to STAU1 and controls epidermal differentiation by stabilizing key differentiation mRNAs, by means of a TINCR-binding motif found enriched in epidermal differentiation genes.
- Markus Kretz
- , Zurab Siprashvili
- & Paul A. Khavari
-
Research Highlights |
Cells turn back clock in diabetes
-
Letter |
The prokaryote messenger c-di-GMP triggers stalk cell differentiation in Dictyostelium
The prokaryote signalling intermediate cyclic di-(3′:5′)-guanosine monophosphate is shown to be the morphogen responsible for stalk cell differentiation and, thus, the transition from slug migration to fructification in the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.
- Zhi-hui Chen
- & Pauline Schaap
-
News & Views Forum |
Triple genomes go far
A technique called somatic-cell nuclear transfer has been applied to human oocytes, resulting in the generation of personalized stem cells, albeit genetically abnormal ones. Two experts discuss the biomedical significance of this work and the ethical issues surrounding the use of human oocytes in research. See Article p.70
- George Q. Daley
- & Jan Helge Solbakk
-
Letter |
Induction of human neuronal cells by defined transcription factors
- Zhiping P. Pang
- , Nan Yang
- & Marius Wernig
-
-
Letter |
Dynamic regulation of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in mouse ES cells and during differentiation
- Gabriella Ficz
- , Miguel R. Branco
- & Wolf Reik
-
Article |
Mesenchymal and haematopoietic stem cells form a unique bone marrow niche
The identity of the cells that form the haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche in bone marrow has been unclear. These authors identify nestin-expressing mesenchymal stem cells as niche-forming cells. These nestin-expressing cells show a close physical association with HSCs and express high levels of genes involved in HSC maintenance, and their depletion reduces bone marrow homing of haematopoietic progenitors.
- Simón Méndez-Ferrer
- , Tatyana V. Michurina
- & Paul S. Frenette
-
Letter |
Regulation of myeloid leukaemia by the cell-fate determinant Musashi
Chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) can progress from a chronic to an acute phase. These authors show in mouse models that leukaemia progression is controlled by the cell-fate regulator Musashi2, which in turn regulates Numb, Notch and p53 to block cellular differentiation. Musashi2 expression can be increased by aberrant transcription factors found in leukaemia, is observed during cancer progression in human CML patients and is associated with poorer prognosis.
- Takahiro Ito
- , Hyog Young Kwon
- & Tannishtha Reya
-
Letter |
Transcriptional control of preadipocyte determination by Zfp423
An understanding of how fat cells (adipocytes) develop will contribute to our understanding of obesity. The differentiation of committed preadipocytes into adipocytes is known to be controlled by PPARγ and several other transcription factors. But what turns a cell into a preadipocyte? Here, the zinc-finger protein Zfp423 is identified as a transcriptional regulator of preadipocyte determination.
- Rana K. Gupta
- , Zoltan Arany
- & Bruce M. Spiegelman
-
Article |
Rfx6 directs islet formation and insulin production in mice and humans
Pancreatic β-cells release insulin, which controls energy homeostasis in vertebrates, and its lack causes diabetes mellitus. The transcription factor neurogenin 3 (Neurog3) initiates differentiation of β-cells and other islet cell types from pancreatic endoderm; here, the transcription factor Rfx6 is shown to direct islet cell differentiation downstream of Neurog3 in mice and humans. This may be useful in efforts to generate β-cells for patients with diabetes.
- Stuart B. Smith
- , Hui-Qi Qu
- & Michael S. German
-
-
Letter |
DNMT1 maintains progenitor function in self-renewing somatic tissue
Progenitor cells sustain the capacity of self-renewing tissues for proliferation while suppressing cell cycle exit and terminal differentiation. DNA methylation is one potential epigenetic mechanism for the cellular memory needed to preserve the somatic progenitor state through cell divisions. The DNA methyltransferase 1 and other regulators of DNA methylation are now shown to be essential for epidermal progenitor cell function.
- George L. Sen
- , Jason A. Reuter
- & Paul A. Khavari
-
Letter |
Role of conserved non-coding DNA elements in the Foxp3 gene in regulatory T-cell fate
Immune homeostasis relies on tight control over the size of a population of regulatory T cells (Treg) that can suppress over-exuberant immune responses. Cells commit to the Treg lineage by upregulating the transcription factor Foxp3. Conserved non-coding DNA sequence elements at the Foxp3 locus are now shown to control the composition, size and maintenance of the Treg cell population.
- Ye Zheng
- , Steven Josefowicz
- & Alexander Y. Rudensky
-
Article |
Opposing microRNA families regulate self-renewal in mouse embryonic stem cells
The differentiation of an embryonic stem cell (ESC) requires both suppression of the self-renewal process and activation of the specific differentiation pathway. The let-7 family of microRNAs (miRNAs) are now shown to suppress the self-renewal program in cells that are normally unable to silence this program, whereas introduction of ESC cell cycle regulating miRNAs blocks the action of let-7. Thus, the interplay between these two groups of miRNAs dictates cell fate.
- Collin Melton
- , Robert L. Judson
- & Robert Blelloch