An integral program for tissue renewal and regeneration: Wnt signaling and stem cell control

Controlling stem cells and their niches Adult organs such as the intestines and skin continually renew themselves every few days or weeks. In several mammalian tissues, this renewal relies on Wnt signaling. Clevers et al. review this crucial role in stem cell self renewal. Wnt plays a pivotal role in tissue regeneration even in the earliest animals. Wnt proteins function mainly as short-range signals between adjacent cells. The short-range, spatially-constrained nature of Wnt signals underpins mammalian stem cell niche architecture and tissue self-organization. Science , this issue 10.1126/science.1248012