{"title":"Diversity and Evolvability of Self-/Nonself-Discrimination and the Origins of Vertebrate Adaptive Immunity.","authors":"Anthony W De Tomaso, Henry Rodriguez-Valbuena","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111822-123126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111822-123126","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ability to discriminate self from nonself is found throughout the tree of life and underlies a diverse range of processes, including immunity, mate choice, and cooperative social interactions. Self-/nonself-recognition also operates during development, for example, coordinating the formation of complex neural circuits. Despite this ubiquity, proteins that mediate self-/nonself-recognition are lineage-specific. Novel genetic interactions have arisen repeatedly and in a punctuated manner, in some cases even evolving de novo within the same lineages. This review examines the fundamental principles of self-/nonself-recognition across diverse taxa, focusing on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying discrimination, the generation and maintenance of novel recognition specificities, and how these systems have been modified over time. Together, these modifications provide a mechanistic foundation to address a central problem in evolutionary biology: the origins of vertebrate adaptive immunity, a system capable of unparalleled self-/nonself-discrimination.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148434806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hidden Messages in Extracellular Vesicles: Cross-Kingdom RNA Communication in Plant and Microbe Interactions.","authors":"Qiang Cai, Simoné Murguia, Hailing Jin","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-091450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-091450","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>RNAs are versatile polynucleotides that perform essential functions in coding, regulation, catalysis, and structural organization across all forms of life. While most RNAs function endogenously within an organism, certain RNAs, including small RNAs, messenger RNAs, long noncoding RNAs, and other RNA species, can cross organismal boundaries and regulate cellular processes in recipient organisms, a phenomenon termed \"cross-kingdom\" or \"cross-species\" RNA communication. These transferred RNAs play a pivotal role in regulating host-microbe interactions. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer-enclosed structures that serve as vehicles for transporting RNAs and other cargoes from donor to recipient cells or organisms to regulate diverse cellular processes. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of EVs and their functions in shuttling regulatory molecules, especially RNAs, between hosts and microbes, between hosts and parasites or pests, and even between microbes. Elucidating these mechanisms will enable the development of innovative crop protection strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148325439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"mRNA-Scaffolded Cytoplasmic Compartments.","authors":"Christine Mayr","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-021431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-021431","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The cytoplasm of vertebrate cells is compartmentalized into the cytosol and several messenger RNA (mRNA)-scaffolded condensates, present at steady-state conditions and in the absence of stress. They include TIS granules and the FXR1 network and act as translation, folding, and signaling environments. Therefore, in addition to serving as templates for protein synthesis, mRNAs play essential roles in cytoplasmic organization. However, not all mRNAs function as condensate scaffolds. Whereas mRNAs with short and structured 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) usually diffuse freely and localize to the cytosol, scaffold mRNAs are characterized by long and multivalent 3' UTRs. Scaffold mRNAs are responsible for the characteristic irregular, network-like morphology of mesh-like condensates and play active, functional roles during protein biosynthesis. For example, mesh-like condensates act as folding environments for proteins with long intrinsically disordered regions, where multivalent 3' UTRs act as cotranslational chaperones to prevent protein misfolding. The scaffold function of mRNAs is also important for post-translational processes, where the mRNA-mediated proximity of signaling factors promotes cellular signaling reactions. In this review, the discovery of cytoplasmic mRNA-scaffolded mesh-like compartments and their currently known assembly principles and biological roles are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148325407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Developmental Programming of Human Kidney Function.","authors":"Andrew P McMahon","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-112122-024610","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-112122-024610","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Seventy years of developmental studies have identified the cellular framework and key developmental mechanisms underpinning mammalian kidney development. This understanding has centered on rodent research, where developmental genetics in the mouse has played a particularly important role. Over the last decade, the application of developmental insight to human pluripotent stem cells, generating human cell and organoid models, has spotlighted therapeutic opportunity. This review considers human kidney development and how developmental insight is being applied toward the generation of functional human kidney cell types in pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney models and provides a perspective on advancing models for clinical impact.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148222663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Translation of Genetic Information in Neurodevelopment.","authors":"Matthew L Kraushar","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-103329","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-103329","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neurodevelopment is the transformation of genetic information into diverse neuronal phenotypes. Developmental signals initiate patterns of gene transcription and translation that drive progenitors toward a great variety of neurons and nervous systems. The potential from messenger RNA transcription is translated by the ribosome into protein, transforming genetic information into action throughout the cell. This review traces the molecular logic of neurodevelopment to the translation of the proteome and its phenotypes. It highlights emerging research in the neocortex, an evolutionarily recent brain region of complex cognition, where the ribosome is a sensor of developmental signals and translation is a regulator of neuronal fate commitment. Neuronal fates primed in the transcriptome of neural progenitors may be selectively translated, adding layers of spatial and temporal information to the execution of neuronal differentiation. This review aims to advance prior transcription-focused concepts toward their ultimate translation-driven outcomes in the molecular model of neurodevelopment and evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148216064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Origin and Early Evolution of Fungi: Challenges, Inferences, and Principles.","authors":"Antonis Rokas","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-045246","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-045246","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fungi are widespread on our planet and essential for life as we know it, but how did they come about? Their last common ancestor lived hundreds of millions of years ago, but its characteristics, and the contours of early fungal evolution, remain mysterious. This review synthesizes information from fungal and eukaryotic microbial diversity, geology, fossils, and evolutionary genomics to infer the early evolution of fungi, identify challenges and major gaps in our knowledge, dispel misconceptions, and propose general evolutionary principles exemplified by the fungal lineage. Even though fungi likely emerged earlier than animals or land plants, their origins and early evolution are the least studied. Reconstruction of the evolutionary and ecological portrait of the first fungi is key for deciphering life in ancient ecosystems, for understanding how fungi eventually facilitated the advent of life on land, and for inferring principles that govern fungal evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13285959/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148209888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interstitial Spaces: A Basolateral Source of Structure and Signals.","authors":"Rebecca G Wells, Neil D Theise","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-023144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-023144","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The mammalian interstitium is a body-wide network of fluid-filled, prelymphatic spaces. Recent studies demonstrate that it exists at three scales in continuity both within and between organs, comprising intercellular, pericapillary, and large (or fascial) interstitial spaces, the latter including fascia, dermis, organ submucosae and capsules, vascular adventitia, and perineurium. Hyaluronic acid fills all interstitial spaces, but large interstitial spaces also contain additional structurally complex and varied extracellular matrices that support soluble factor, mechanical, and potentially electrical signaling. Here we review areas where the new anatomic concept of the interstitium has led to the re-examination of previous findings, including data on interstitial matrix composition and cell trafficking. We also identify new questions arising specifically from the finding that the interstitium is multiscale and body-wide, including questions about the characteristics and drivers of interstitial fluid flow and the role of the interstitium as a rich and active basolateral signaling compartment.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148209894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sofia I Sheikh, Nicholas W VanKuren, Marcus R Kronforst
{"title":"Emerging Patterns in the Functional and Developmental Genetics of Mimicry Supergenes.","authors":"Sofia I Sheikh, Nicholas W VanKuren, Marcus R Kronforst","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-065025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-065025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Development depends on the coordinated activity of many genes acting across time and space within each individual, yet many species can produce multiple discrete phenotypes. Such complex balanced polymorphisms are often controlled by supergenes, which are genomic regions containing tightly linked genetic elements that function together to direct alternative developmental programs. Supergene-controlled polymorphisms provide powerful models for understanding evolution and development, revealing how stable alternative fates emerge through the modulation of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Here, we synthesize recent advances in the evolution, function, and developmental genetics of butterfly mimicry supergenes. We use these historically important systems to review how and why supergenes evolve. We then discuss how supergenes control the development of alternate wing patterns through GRN modification. Finally, we draw parallels with supergene polymorphisms in other organisms to frame general principles governing the evolution and developmental basis of balanced polymorphisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148051952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond Kleiber's Law: Variation and Mechanisms of Metabolic Scaling.","authors":"Liliana Piñeros, Rebecca Heald","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-101323-015244","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-101323-015244","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The scaling relationship between metabolic rate and body mass is a foundational principle in biology that links physiology, ecology, and evolution. From early empirical studies-most notably Kleiber's observation of 3/4 power law scaling-to contemporary theoretical frameworks, decades of research have sought to explain why organismal metabolic rate increases more slowly than body mass. This review examines variation in scaling exponents across the tree of life and explores how cellular features, including cell size, mitochondrial dynamics, and energy storage, shape whole-organism metabolism. We describe how dynamic metabolic rates during embryonic development reveal patterns of energy use during growth, while deviations in metabolic scaling across species and disease states indicate how biological systems balance energy constraints with adaptive flexibility. Together, these insights position cells as the critical interface linking molecular bioenergetics to organismal function, evolution, and ecology.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147969841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maciej A Kerlin, Shivali Dongre, Eleonora Perego, Martino Ugolini, Nadine L Vastenhouw
{"title":"On the Structure and Function of Transcription Bodies.","authors":"Maciej A Kerlin, Shivali Dongre, Eleonora Perego, Martino Ugolini, Nadine L Vastenhouw","doi":"10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-064145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111524-064145","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transcription is a key process in the life of cells. In the 1990s, cell biologists observed that transcription often takes place in discrete transcription bodies in eukaryotic nuclei, which has sparked an exciting new field of research. Transcription bodies are sites of accumulated transcriptional machinery that regulate the transcription of one or multiple genes. In recent years, we have begun to understand the relationships between transcription bodies and the genome, how transcription bodies assemble, and how they impact transcriptional activity. Much, however, remains unclear: for example, how specificity in the clustering of proteins is achieved, how multiple genes come together in nuclear space, how the dynamic behavior of transcription bodies impacts their function, and in which ways transcription bodies affect transcription. In this review, we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge, as well as the open questions, and how these may be addressed using emerging technologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":7944,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of cell and developmental biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147969856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}