title: Oriented cell divisions and muscle satellite cell heterogeneity.
abstract: Satellite cells are crucial for maintaining muscle homeostasis and for regeneration following injury. In this issue, Kuang et al. (2007) reveal that muscle satellite cells are a heterogeneous mixture of stem cells and committed myogenic progenitors. They show that asymmetric division of stem cells in the satellite cell niche is a mechanism for generating these two populations.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Research Institute, Dibit, San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy. cossu.giulio@hsr.it
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cossu
authors.forename: Shahragim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tajbakhsh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D051379:Mice; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5 / Q000502:physiology; D051763:PAX7 Transcription Factor / Q000502:physiology; D032496:Satellite Cells, Skeletal Muscle / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C497418:Myf5 protein, mouse; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5; D051763:PAX7 Transcription Factor; C497322:Pax7 protein, mouse