Satellite No Longer

Have you ever pulled a muscle? If so, it would have been repaired by satellite cells (SCs). These are stem cells that can develop into different types of muscle cell. Recent research into how SCs develop has found that they need to switch on a gene called Prox1 to turn into muscle cells. Prox1 switches off genes that keep the SC in a stem cell-like state, and activates genes that give it muscle cell characteristics. However, there are many muscle cell types. If the SC then continues to express Prox1, this may direct it to develop into a cell type called a slow muscle fibre cell, shown in the image. These cells contain a specific high-endurance muscular protein (green, Prox1 shown in red). Prox1 regulates stem cells in many types of tissue, so this information is important for healing and ageing research.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

Esther Redhouse White

Writer

A recent Biochemistry graduate from York, Esther has worked on bacterial killing proteins and genetic switches in worms. In her spare time she likes visiting museums full of skeletons.

• Image from work by Riikka Kivelä and colleagues
• Wihuri Research Institute, Biomedicum Helsinki, Finland
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in Nature Communications, October 2016