For most of us, we don’t all settle as adults in the same town where we were born. The same is true for many cells, including some stem cells in the fruit fly intestine. A recent paper describes the migration of progenitor cells, some of which will become stem cells, in the intestine of developing flies, with the help of stunning images of these boundary-crossing cells.
Monday is tax day for most of us on the American side of the pond. That ought to cause massive hair loss for many folks, but we have amazing hair follicles that constantly regenerate hair throughout our adult lives (well, at least for those of us without male pattern baldness). Stem cells are of course involved, and a recent paper in Development discusses them.
You didn’t stop developing once you were born (or hatched). Our young and juvenile selves barely resemble ourselves as adults, and stem cells play an important role in this continued development. A recent paper describes the identification of a stem cell niche that generates the melanophores, or pigment cells, that are responsible for the striped patterning in zebrafish.
A lot of things cycle in life, even down to the cellular level. The cell cycle is a series of phases that lead to a cell’s division, and is a well-studied part of cell biology and stem cell biology. In the developing central nervous system, regulators of the cell cycle play important roles in maintaining a balance between stem cell self-renewal and differentiation into specialized cell types. A recent paper in the journal Development describes a cell cycle regulator in stem and progenitor cells in the nervous system.
Every time a biologist drives stem cells to differentiate into a specialized cell type, patients of all sorts of diseases, disorders, and injuries allow their hope to grow. This process is a key step in developing stem cell therapeutics, and recently a research group learned how to drive differentiation of a specific type of neuron that is affected in Huntington’s Disease.
There are a lot of situations in life where the “middleman” is unnecessary and costly. In cells, that middleman is necessary and fascinating at the same time. Our DNA is transcribed into mRNA, the middleman, which is then translated into proteins. This sequence provides our cells with countless ways to regulate complex processes, including those surrounding stem cell divisions.
A lot of people think that our brains don’t produce any more neurons after we’re born, but thankfully that’s not true. A small subset of stem cells in the brain gives rise to neurons in a region believed to be associated with learning and memory, and a recent paper in Development describes the properties of these stem cells, and identifies markers that can be used to spot them.
To me, the stem cells within a germline are a perfect storm of fascination. Stem cells are, of course, intriguing in their ability to self-renew or generate different cell types, and a germline is intriguing in its ability to generate gametes (sperm and eggs). Add stem cells and germlines together, and you have amazing biology in front of you. Today’s images are from a paper describing regulation within germline stem cells in a small nematode worm.
Stem cells are not just for the (super) young! Adults have many stem cells throughout their bodies to replace damaged or old cells. Today’s image is from a recent paper showing the importance of a protein in regulating the cell fate decisions of stem cells in the adult brain.
Decisions, decisions. Stem cells are tasked with deciding whether to self-renew or follow the path to become a specific cell type. This big decision is made from impressive coordination of a combination of signals—some that suppress certain genes, while some activate others. A recent paper in the journal Development helps untangle this complex process in the developing nervous system.
Moderation is key to healthy living, from those delicious summer ice cream cones to our bodies’ drive toward homeostasis. Thankfully, stem cells and the cells involved in tissue regeneration understand the importance of moderation. Today’s image is from a recent Development paper showing how Fox1/4 proteins regulate the types of cells produce in our lungs during both development and regeneration.
I would have thought that all organisms heal a broken heart the same way humans do (bad movies and cheap wine), but I was wrong. Some organisms, such as zebrafish and newts, are able to regenerate heart tissue where an injury previously occurred. Understanding how injured tissue regenerates itself is a key step in developing stem cell-based medical therapies. A recent paper in the journal Development describes the molecules involved in zebrafish heart regeneration.
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