Nature Cell Biology

doi: 10.1038/ncb2618pmid: N/A

Michael Sheetz, James Spudich and Ronald Vale have been awarded the prestigious Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for their work on cytoskeletal motors. Nature Cell Biology joins the scientific community in congratulating the awardees and in celebrating the importance of basic research in furthering scientific endeavour.

Leonardo, Trevor R.; Schultheisz, Heather L.; Loring, Jeanne F.; Laurent, Louise C.

doi: 10.1038/ncb2613pmid: 23131918

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) express a distinctive set of microRNAs (miRNAs). Many of these miRNAs have similar targeting sequences and are predicted to regulate downstream targets cooperatively. These enriched miRNAs are involved in the regulation of the unique PSC cell cycle, and there is increasing evidence that they also influence other important characteristics of PSCs, including their morphology, epigenetic profile and resistance to apoptosis. Detailed studies of miRNAs and their targets in PSCs should help to parse the regulatory networks that underlie developmental processes and cellular reprogramming.

Mathsyaraja, Haritha; Ostrowski, Michael C.

doi: 10.1038/ncb2616pmid: 23131919

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a fundamental process in both development and cancer progression. The transcription factor Elf5 is now reported as an upstream regulator of the key EMT inducer Snail2, and is shown to regulate the earliest known rewiring events required for tumour cell invasiveness and metastasis.

Meserve, Joy H.; Duronio, Robert J.

doi: 10.1038/ncb2609pmid: 23064265

It is well documented that polyploid cells exist in mammalian tissues such as the placenta and liver, but their function and the mechanisms for their formation have remained elusive. Two studies now identify a role for atypical E2F transcription factors in promoting polyploidy in mammals and challenge present theories about the function of polyploidy.

Lüders, Jens

doi: 10.1038/ncb2617pmid: 23131920

The pericentriolar material (PCM), the microtubule-organizing component of the centrosome, contains a multitude of proteins and is commonly described as an amorphous cloud surrounding the centrioles. However, the days of the PCM as an unstructured matrix are numbered. Using super-resolution microscopy, several reports have now revealed remarkable domain organization within the PCM.

Le Bot, Nathalie

doi: 10.1038/ncb2625pmid: N/A

Chenette, Emily J.

doi: 10.1038/ncb2624pmid: N/A

Zaromytidou, Alexia-Ileana

doi: 10.1038/ncb2623pmid: N/A

Rosenthal, Christina Karlsson

doi: 10.1038/ncb2619pmid: N/A

Ousset, Marielle; Van Keymeulen, Alexandra; Bouvencourt, Gaëlle; Sharma, Neha; Achouri, Younes; Simons, Benjamin D.; Blanpain, Cédric

doi: 10.1038/ncb2600pmid: 23064263

The prostate is a glandular epithelium composed of basal, luminal and neuroendocrine cells that originate from the urogenital sinus during embryonic development. After birth, the prostate keeps developing until the end of puberty. Here, we used inducible genetic lineage tracing experiments in mice to investigate the cellular hierarchy that governs prostate postnatal development. We found that prostate postnatal development is mediated by basal multipotent stem cells that differentiate into basal, luminal and neuroendocrine cells, as well as by unipotent basal and luminal progenitors. Clonal analysis of basal cells revealed the existence of bipotent and unipotent basal progenitors as well as basal cells already committed to the luminal lineage with intermediate cells co-expressing basal and luminal markers associated with this commitment step. The existence of multipotent basal progenitors during prostate postnatal development contrasts with the distinct pools of unipotent basal and luminal stem cells that mediate adult prostate regeneration. Our results uncover the cellular hierarchy acting during prostate development and will be instrumental in defining the cellular origin and the mechanisms underlying prostate cancer initiation.