Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Directs Stem Cell Polarity via Regulation of Mitofusin (Cell Metabolism)

Wu et al. reveal that EMT, a key process in cancer progression, activates mitochondrial fusion protein, MFN1, which interacts with cell polarity protein complex to direct asymmetric cell division, allowing stem cell progeny to inherit fused mitochondria with enhanced reactive oxygen species scavenging capacity to sustain the stem cell pool.