This week’s articles highlight a peptide that controls myoblast fusion; a metabolic adaptation that enables naked mole-rats to resist the detrimental effects of anoxia; a transcription factor that coordinates signaling in the mammary epithelial stem cell niche; and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of the response to an environmental stimulus.
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Micromanaging muscle cell fusion
Bi et al. identified a small peptide expressed in developing skeletal muscle that controls muscle cell fusion and myofiber formation.
PHYSIOLOGY
Safe anaerobic metabolism
Park et al. found that naked mole-rats use fructose for glycolysis in low-oxygen conditions (see also Storz and McClelland).
STEM CELLS
Double duty for mammary stem cell niche
Zhao et al. report that the transcription factor Gli2 regulates stromal cell expression of signals controlling breast epithelial stem cell activity (see also Robertson).
EPIGENETICS
Ancestral legacy effects
Klosin et al. show that gene expression within repetitive transgenes is epigenetically inherited over multiple generations.