Planarians provide evidence for a common evolutionary origin of vertebrate and invertebrate excretory systems and provide a novel experimental model to study human kidney diseases.

A Na,K-ATPase beta subunit can suppress basal cell carcinogenesis either via its osmoregulatory function to avoid hypotonic stress, or by promoting epithelial polarity and adhesiveness of basal keratinocytes from the overlying outer layer.

Expression of the transcription factor Wt1 is required in a lateral mesoderm domain to develop the mesenchymal population required for the closure of the pleural cavities and the formation of the diaphragm.

Prostaglandin synthesis and PGE2 receptor activity are essential for mediating segmentation of renal progenitors during pronephros formation in the zebrafish.

The transcriptional coactivator ppargc1a regulates the renal progenitor patterning to delineate boundary formation of differentiated segment populations during nephrogenesis.

Arid3a, a component of H3K9 me3 demethylases, regulates regeneration of the proximal nephric tubule through the evolutionarily conserved regeneration signal-response enhancer.

Embryonic macrophages encourage early kidney development, interact with developing renal blood vessels, are enriched for mRNAs linked to vascular development, and promote endothelial cross-connections.

Drosophila renal stem cells are exceptional in abundance, require induction to produce a single cell type, principal cells, and mitigate damage during adulthood associated with external stresses.