Table 1.
Roles of oriented cell divisions in vertebrate tissues
| Tissue | Proposed role of spindle oreintation | References |
|---|---|---|
| Epidermis (Interfollicular) | Promotes stratification and differentiation | 101,103,116 |
| Epidermis (Hair placode) | Proposed to generate SOX9-positive stem cell precursors (division orientations have been observed but not disrupted) | 118 |
| Hair follicle matrix | Promotes the formation of differentiated hair cells | 63 |
| Oral epithelium | Stratification and differentiation | 119 |
| Oesophagus | Stratification and differentiation | 165 |
| Lung | Maintains epithelial architecture necessary for branching, planar divisions prevent stratification | 120,121 |
| Epicardium | Asymmetric division with apical cell remaining in epicardium and basal cell delaminating and entering the underlying myocardium | 166 |
| Endothelium | Occurs during sprouting, daughters have asymmetric fates and sizes, drives angiogenesis | 122 |
| T cells | Promotes asymmetric division, whereby Tbet transcription factor is asymmetrically inherited by effector T cells. | 131 |
| B cells | Promotes asymmetric division, BCL6 is asymmetrically inherited during division of germinal centre B cells. | 133 |
| Haematopoietic stem cells | Notch inhibitor Numb and lysosomes are inherited asymmetrically and may influence activation and differentiation decisions | 150,167 |
| Neural progenitors | Regulated spindle orientation during development, functional role remains controversial | 127,168,169 |
| Intestinal epithelium | Proposed to maintain simple epithelium and to promote linear arrays of cells moving up into the villus | 123 |
| Kidney epithelium | Disruption of spindle orientation is associated with cyst formation | 154,170–172 |
| Muscle (Satellite (stem) cells) | Asymmetric divisions of stem cells regulate production of progenitors | 173 |
| Oocytes | F-actin-dependent spindle positioning generates the large oocyte and small polar bodies | 61,143 |
| Mammary gland epithelium | Promotes branching | 174 |
| Prostate epithelium | Thought to promote luminal cell fates, branching and tissue polarity | 121,175,176 |
| Testes | Regulates germ cell fate, disruption may promote seminomas | 177,178 |
| Retina | Proposed to control cell fate and differentiation | 179,180 |