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2019 marks twenty years since the launch of Nature Cell Biology. To celebrate our 20th anniversary we present a Focus of specially commissioned Review and Perspective articles that discuss topics across the diverse areas covered by the journal. These pieces are accompanied by a Collection of research articles published in Nature Cell Biology over the last two decades. Although they are not intended to be comprehensive, these commissioned pieces and research articles highlight the rich history and diverse scope of the journal.
Using scCOOL-seq, Li et al. simultaneously characterize the DNA methylation and chromatin accessibility of the same cell during human preimplantation development.
Velten et al. use single-cell transcriptomics and functional data to map the early lineage commitment of human haematopoietic stem cells as a continuous process of cells passing through transitory states rather than demarcating discrete progenitors.
Chen et al. generate lung bud organoids from human pluripotent stem cells that recapitulate early lung development, such as branching airway formation and early alveolar structures, which could potentially be used to model lung disease.
Park et al. study individual cell dynamics during mouse wound re-epithelialization in real time and reveal a finely orchestrated interplay between epidermal migration, directional division and differentiation.
Henninger et al. analyse the early clonal events that underlie haematopoiesis and establish the number of stem cell clones that arise from the ventral dorsal aorta to maintain lifelong blood production.
Zernicka-Goetz and colleagues report an in vitro culture system that recapitulates hallmarks of human embryo morphogenesis before gastrulation, including formation of the pro-amniotic cavity and appearance of the prospective yolk sac.
Forbes and colleagues report on a population of hepatic progenitor cells that regenerate the adult liver in a mouse model where more than 98% of all hepatocytes are irreversibly damaged.
By comparing the metabolomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes of human pluripotent stem cell lines, Sperber et al. show that interplay between the metabolome and histone modifications drives the metabolic switch from naive to primed pluripotency.
Differentiation of pluripotent cells into renal lineages has had limited success so far. Melissa Little and colleagues have used defined medium conditions that induce posterior primitive streak and intermediate mesoderm using growth factors used during normal embryogenesis. This results in the synchronous induction of both components of the kidney, the ureteric bud and metanephric mesenchyme, which form a self-organizing nephron structure in vitro.
Reik and colleagues show that deletion of the large intergenic non-coding RNA H19 leads to unlimited placenta growth. They find that the H19 RNA contains a microRNA that targets the insulin-like growth factor receptor IGF-1R, and demonstrate that the RNA-binding protein HuR prevents miR-675 excision from H19 until miR-675 activity is required to halt placenta growth.
Reprogramming cells towards pluripotency by expression of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc can be directed towards cardiogenesis by changing the cell culture medium, leading to the formation of spontaneously contracting patches of differentiated cardiomyocytes within ten days.
Oscillating activities of actomyosin networks at the apical side of epithelial cells have been linked to morphogenesis in Drosophila. Montell and colleagues show that myosin oscillations on a polarised actin network at basal cell surfaces of follicle epithelial cells are also required for Drosophila egg chamber elongation.
How cell shape influences cell fate decisions is unclear. Epidermal stem cell fate is regulated by cell shape through the actin cytoskeleton and SRF transcriptional activity.