title: Sending mixed messages for cell population control.
abstract: Cells often receive signals to proliferate, but how population density is controlled is unclear. Hart et al. now show that a single secreted molecule that instructs both proliferation and death in T cells establishes a bistable response: the population is driven to either extinction or to a homeostatically defined density.
authors.affiliation: Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
authors.forename: Hyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Youk
authors.affiliation: Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. Electronic address: wendell.lim@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Wendell A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2