Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Cell death is a phenomenon, frequently perceived as an absolute event for cell, tissue and the organ. However, the rising popularity and complexity of such 3D multicellular 'tissue building blocks' as heterocellular spheroids, organoids, and 'assembloids' prompts to revise the definition and quantification of cell viability and death. It raises sev...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Mitochondria are vital organelles with a central role in all aspects of cellular metabolism. As a means to support the ever-changing demands of the cell, mitochondria produce energy, drive biosynthetic processes, maintain redox homeostasis, and function as a hub for cell signaling. While mitochondria have been widely studied for their role in disea...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
The neural crest (NC) is an emblematic population of embryonic stem-like cells with remarkable migratory ability. These distinctive attributes have inspired the curiosity of developmental biologists for over 150 years, however only recently the regulatory mechanisms controlling the complex features of the NC have started to become elucidated at gen...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Since the discovery of this cell population by His in 1850, the neural crest has been under intense study for its important role during vertebrate development. Much has been learned about the function and regulation of neural crest cell differentiation, and as a result, the neural crest has become a key model system for stem cell biology in general...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Neural crest cells are central to vertebrate development and evolution, endowing vertebrates with a "new head" that resulted in morphological, physiological, and behavioral features that allowed vertebrates to become active predators. One remarkable feature of neural crest cells is their multi-germ layer potential that allows for the formation of b...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Over the last decade, the combination of genetics, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches yielded substantial insights into the mechanisms behind the synthesis and breakdown of energy stores in the model organisms. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been particularly useful to unravel genetic regulations of energy metabolism. Despite the co...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Infection with pathogenic microbes is a severe threat that hosts manage by activating the innate immune response. In Drosophila melanogaster, the Toll and Imd signaling pathways are activated by pathogen-associated molecular patterns to initiate cellular and humoral immune processes that neutralize and kill invaders. The Toll and Imd signaling path...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Developing embryos are metabolically active, open systems that constantly exchange matter and energy with their environment. They function out of thermodynamic equilibrium and continuously use metabolic pathways to obtain energy from maternal nutrients, in order to fulfill the energetic requirements of growth and development. While an increasing nu...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Of all the cell types arising from the neural crest, ectomesenchyme is likely the most unusual. In contrast to the neuroglial cells generated by neural crest throughout the embryo, consistent with its ectodermal origin, cranial neural crest-derived cells (CNCCs) generate many connective tissue and skeletal cell types in common with mesoderm. Whethe...
Published in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a well-defined cellular process that was discovered in chicken embryos and described as "epithelial to mesenchymal transformation" [1]. During EMT, epithelial cells lose their epithelial features and acquire mesenchymal character with migratory potential. EMT has subsequently been shown to be essential ...
