Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Stem cells

The intestinal–crypt casino

Stem cells can renew themselves indefinitely — a feature that is often attributed to asymmetrical cell division. Fresh experimental and mathematical models of the intestine provide evidence that begs to differ.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Intestinal stem cells and their renewal.

References

  1. Fuller, M. T. & Spradling, A. C. Science 316, 402–404 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Knoblich, J. A. Cell 132, 583–597 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lopez-Garcia, C., Klein, A. M., Simons, B. D. & Winton, D. J. Science doi:10.1126/science.1196236 (2010).

  4. Snippert, H. J. et al. Cell 143, 134–144 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sangiorgi, E. & Capecchi, M. R. Nature Genet. 40, 915–920 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Barker, N. et al. Nature 449, 1003–1007 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sato, T. et al. Nature 459, 262–265 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Winton, D. J., Blount, M. A. & Ponder, B. A. J. Nature 333, 463–466 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Bramson, M. & Griffeath, D. Probab. Theor. Relat. Fields 53, 183–196 (1980).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Li, L. & Clevers, H. Science 327, 542–545 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Verzi, M., Shivdasani, R. The intestinal–crypt casino. Nature 467, 1055–1056 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/4671055a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4671055a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing