Stem cells articles within Nature

Featured

  • Letter |

    The rat is a animal model widely used for studying human physiology and disease, but functional genomics and genetic research have been stifled by the limited availability of gene targeting tools. These authors have established gene targeting by homologous recombination in rat embryonic stem cells, and have generated p53 gene knockout rats for the first time.

    • Chang Tong
    • , Ping Li
    •  & Qi-Long Ying

  • News |

    Researchers pin down a pathway coming between mammals and the ability to regenerate tissue salamander-style.

    • Alla Katsnelson

  • Letter |

    The retinoblastoma tumour suppressor protein pRb can suppress the activity of certain transcription factors and potentiate the activity of others, and has been shown to affect the differentiation of different cell lineages in vitro. These authors show that the Rb gene has a role in driving bone cell formation or brown adipose tissue formation in vivo.

    • Eliezer Calo
    • , Jose A. Quintero-Estades
    •  & Jacqueline A. Lees

  • News |

    Longevity of cells could be linked to levels of cellular pumps that get rid of toxic cell products.

    • Cassandra Willyard

  • Article |

    Pluripotent stem cells can be generated in the laboratory through somatic cell nuclear transfer (generating nuclear transfer embryonic stem cells, ntESCs) or transcription-factor-based reprogramming (producing induced pluripotent stem cells, iPSCs). These methods reset the methylation signature of the genome — but to what extent? Here it is found that mouse iPSCs 'remember' the methylation status of their tissue of origin, but the methylation of ntESCs is more similar to that of naturally produced ES cells.

    • K. Kim
    • , A. Doi
    •  & G. Q. Daley

  • Letter |

    Ependymoma is a type of neural tumour that arises throughout the central nervous system. Using comparative transcriptomics in mouse and human tumours, these authors home in on mutations that are specific to individual tumour subgroups. In doing so, they generate the first mouse model of ependymoma and demonstrate the power of interspecific genomic comparisons to interrogate cancer subgroups.

    • Robert A. Johnson
    • , Karen D. Wright
    •  & Richard J. Gilbertson

  • Brief Communications Arising |

    • Sabine Conrad
    • , Markus Renninger
    •  & Thomas Skutella

  • Letter |

    Reproductive history influences breast cancer risk but the cellular mechanisms are unclear. Here it is shown that ovarian hormones regulate the size of the mammary stem cell pool in mice. The size of this pool increases when progesterone levels increase during the reproductive cycle. Progesterone probably regulates stem cell numbers through a paracrine mechanism involving induction of RANKL and Wnt in luminal cells.

    • Purna A. Joshi
    • , Hartland W. Jackson
    •  & Rama Khokha

  • Letter |

    The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from patients with defined genetic disorders promises to help the basic understanding of complex diseases and the development of therapeutics. Here iPSCs have been generated from patients with LEOPARD syndrome, a developmental disorder with pleiomorphic effects on several tissues and organs. The iPSCs are characterized and the phenotype of cardiomyocytes derived from these cells is investigated.

    • Xonia Carvajal-Vergara
    • , Ana Sevilla
    •  & Ihor R. Lemischka

  • News & Views |

    The steroid hormones oestrogen and progesterone have a role in sickness and in health. In breast tissue, both roles probably work through a single mechanism: controlling the number and activity of mammary stem cells.

    • John P. Lydon

  • Article |

    Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are generated by the enforced expression of particular transcription factors in somatic cells. The extent to which such cells are equivalent to embryonic stem (ES) cells is an open question. Here, genetically identical mouse ES cells and iPSCs have been compared; the overall expression patterns of messenger RNAs and microRNAs are the same, with the exception of a few transcripts encoded within an imprinted gene cluster on chromosome 12qF1.

    • Matthias Stadtfeld
    • , Effie Apostolou
    •  & Konrad Hochedlinger

  • Letter |

    The ovarian hormones oestrogen and progesterone increase breast cancer risk but the cellular mechanisms are unclear. Here it is shown that the size of the mammary stem cell pool in mice is regulated by steroid hormone signalling, although these cells lack the receptors for oestrogen and progesterone. The augmented pool could lead to clonal expansion of a mutated cell, possibly accounting for the increased incidence of breast cancer associated with pregnancy.

    • Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat
    • , François Vaillant
    •  & Jane E. Visvader

  • Letter |

    Several non-haematopoietic-cell-derived cytokines, including interleukin (IL)25, have been implicated in inducing T helper 2 (TH2) cell-dependent inflammation, but their precise role has been unclear. Here, IL25 is shown to promote the accumulation of multipotent progenitor cells in gut-associated lymphoid tissue. These cells can give rise to macrophage or granulocyte lineages that promote the differentiation of TH2 cells and contribute to protective immunity against helminth infections.

    • Steven A. Saenz
    • , Mark C. Siracusa
    •  & David Artis

  • News & Views |

    Different types of stem cell maintain the skin's epidermis and contribute to its healing after damage. The identity of a stem-cell type that gives rise to different epidermal-cell lineages has just been revealed.

    • Cédric Blanpain

  • Article |

    Zscan4 is shown to be involved in maintaining telomeres in embryonic stem (ES) cells. Only 5% of ES cells express Zscan4 at a given time, but nearly all ES cells activate Zscan4 at least once within nine passages. The transient Zscan4-positive state is associated with rapid telomere extension by telomere recombination and upregulation of meiosis–specific homologous recombination genes. Knocking down Zscan4 shortens telomeres, increases karyotype abnormalities and spontaneous sister chromatid exchange, and slows down cell proliferation until reaching crisis by eight passages.

    • Michal Zalzman
    • , Geppino Falco
    •  & Minoru S. H. Ko

  • Letter |

    To study the changes in chromatin structure that accompany zygotic genome activation and pluripotency during the maternal–zygotic transition (MZT), the genomic locations of histone H3 modifications and RNA polymerase II have been mapped during this transition in zebrafish embryos. H3 lysine 27 trimethylation and H3 lysine 4 trimethylation are only detected after MZT; evidence is provided that the bivalent chromatin domains found in cultured embryonic stem cells also exist in embryos.

    • Nadine L. Vastenhouw
    • , Yong Zhang
    •  & Alexander F. Schier

  • Brief Communications Arising |

    • François Majo
    • , Ariane Rochat
    •  & Yann Barrandon

  • News & Views |

    In a feat of biological wizardry, one type of differentiated cell has been directly converted into another, completely distinct type. Notably, the approach does not require a stem-cell intermediate stage.

    • Cory R. Nicholas
    •  & Arnold R. Kriegstein

  • Letter |

    Here, iPS cell technology is used to study the mechanisms underlying dyskeratosis congenita in humans. Reprogramming restores telomere elongation in dyskeratosis congenita cells despite genetic lesions affecting telomerase. The reprogrammed cells were able to overcome a critical limitation in telomerase RNA component (TERC) levels to restore telomere maintenance and self-renewal, and multiple telomerase components are targeted by pluripotency-associated transcription factors.

    • Suneet Agarwal
    • , Yuin-Han Loh
    •  & George Q. Daley

  • Letter |

    Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are widely dispersed in mammalian genomes, and are silenced in somatic cells by DNA methylation. Here, an ERV silencing pathway independent of DNA methylation is shown to operate in embryonic stem cells. The pathway involves the histone H3K9 methyltransferase ESET and might be important for ERV silencing during the stages in embryogenesis when DNA methylation is reprogrammed.

    • Toshiyuki Matsui
    • , Danny Leung
    •  & Yoichi Shinkai

  • Letter |

    One of two papers showing the generation of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the ventral wall of the dorsal aorta in live zebrafish embryos. Here, combined fluorescent reporter transgenes, confocal time-lapse microscopy and flow cytometry identify and isolate the stepwise intermediates as aortic haemogenic endothelium transitions to nascent HSCs. HSCs generated from this haemogenic endothelium are the lineal founders of virtually all of the adult haematopoietic system.

    • Julien Y. Bertrand
    • , Neil C. Chi
    •  & David Traver

  • Letter |

    De novo emergence of phenotypically defined haematopoietic stem cells (Sca1+, c kit+, CD41+) directly from ventral aortic haemogenic endothelial cells is shown in mice. Although the study did not visualize live embryos, it instead developed a dissection procedure to visualize the deeply located aorta.

    • Jean-Charles Boisset
    • , Wiggert van Cappellen
    •  & Catherine Robin

  • News |

    An expensive recovery plan to save the ivory-billed woodpecker from extinction may come decades too late.

    • Rex Dalton

  • Letter |

    The transcription factor Tbx3 is shown to significantly improve the quality of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Tbx3 binding sites in embryonic stem cells are present in genes involved in pluripotency and reprogramming factors. Furthermore, there are intrinsic qualitative differences in iPS cells generated by different methods in terms of their pluripotency, thus highlighting the need to rigorously characterize iPS cells beyond in vitro studies.

    • Jianyong Han
    • , Ping Yuan
    •  & Bing Lim

  • News & Views |

    Embryonic stem cells can create copies of themselves, but can also mature into almost any type of cell in the body. Tiny gene regulators called microRNAs are now shown to have a role in directing these properties.

    • Frank J. Slack

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Stem cells across other nature.com journals