Extracellular Signals in the Control of Gene Expression Regulating Cellular Survival, Death and Differentiation

Dear Colleagues,

Mammalian development and cell fate specification are controlled by various regulatory mechanisms that interact in a coordinated way to guarantee a correct regulation of gene expression. In particular, transcriptional networks can be regulated by extracellular signals, including changes in the microenvironment and mechanical stimuli, to control cell fate decision such as to escape or undergo apoptosis, or to differentiate.

How do cells “read” information from the environment and translate it into specific cell fate decisions? Recent findings suggest that cell fate is encoded in early signaling events and can be predicted from defined signal properties. Specifically, the time course of activated key signaling molecules can be related to cellular fate such as proliferation or differentiation. Nowadays, the identification of the key signal mediators and their linking to cell fate is also facilitated by transcriptomics and proteomics analyses, assisted by bioinformatics and mathematical modeling.

This Special Issue focuses on the recent progress in understanding the biochemical and molecular biology of cellular survival, death and differentiation, considering in particular changes coming from the cellular microenvironment that affect the transcriptional network. Specific changes in gene expression patterns and alterations in the protein expression in cellular or animal models will also be considered in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Claudia Martini
Prof. Dr. Maria Letizia Trincavelli
Dr. Simona Daniele
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.