title: Keeping stem cells under control: New insights into the mechanisms that limit niche-stem cell signaling within the reproductive system.
abstract: Adult stem cells reside in specialized microenvironments, called niches, that maintain stem cells in an undifferentiated and self-renewing state. Defining and understanding the mechanisms that restrict niche signaling exclusively to stem cells is crucial to determine how stem cells undergo self-renewal while their progeny, often located just one cell diameter away from the niche, differentiate. Despite extensive studies on the signaling pathways that operate within stem cells and their niches, how this segregation occurs remains elusive. Here we review recent progress on the characterization of niche-stem cell interactions, with a focus on emerging mechanisms that spatially restrict niche signaling. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 83: 675-683, 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology Medical School, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.|Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Mayu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inaba
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology Medical School, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Yukiko M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buszczak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005835:Genitalia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D055153:Stem Cell Niche / Q000502:physiology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*