Oriented cell divisions and muscle satellite cell heterogeneity.
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.
Cossu
Giulio
G
Stem Cell Research Institute, Dibit, San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy. cossu.giulio@hsr.it
Tajbakhsh
Shahragim
S
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
C497418:Myf5 protein, mouse; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5; D051763:PAX7 Transcription Factor; C497322:Pax7 protein, mouse