Hippo signaling: Special issue of BMB Reports in 2018

Since the first component of Hippo signaling, Wts in Drosophila, was identified in 1995, the progress of Hippo signaling studies has been very slow initially. However, after the findings suggesting that the core kinase pathway established in Drosophila was evolutionarily conserved in metazoans for the determination of organ size around 2008, the number of publications related to Hippo signaling has grown exponentially. Identification of molecular mechanisms underlying Hippo signaling response to intrinsic cues, such as cell-cell contact and mechanotransduction, as well as extrinsic cues, such as nutrients and soluble factors, has been one of the key topics of Hippo signaling. In the beginning, the role of Hippo signaling in the regulation of cell proliferation, organ size determination and tumorigenesis was mainly studied. However, the study of Hippo signaling expanded recently to unexpected biological phenomena such as tissue regeneration, innate immunity and miRNA biogenesis. Editors of BMB reports thought that it was timely and informative to review the status of Hippo signaling to introduce the topic to researchers outside of this field. As an editor of BMB reports, I invited seven researchers, who are currently working in Korea on different aspects of Hippo signaling, to submit minireviews. [BMB Reports 2018; 51(3): 105].