Science Signaling Podcast: 26 August 2014

This Podcast features an interview with Alfred Singer, Gil Katz, and Leonid Pobezinsky, authors of a Research Article that appears in the 26 August 2014 issue of Science Signaling , about a microRNA that plays a role in the survival of T cells. During development in the thymus and after maturation and migration into the periphery, T cells require signaling through both the T cell receptor (TCR) and the interleukin-7 receptor (IL-7R) to survive. However, because sustained IL-7R signaling kills T cells, TCR signaling periodically inhibits IL-7R signaling to enable T cell survival. Katz et al . have identified a microRNA that is induced by T cell receptor activation and inhibits IL-7R signaling by reducing the abundance of Jak1, a kinase that transduces signaling downstream of IL-7R.