An immunological understanding of how transcription factors direct lymphocyte lineage determination requires appreciation of the myriad ways in which they interact with and influence other cellular processes. Nature Immunology has just published a web focus containing five specially commissioned articles on the lymphocyte lineage specification factors that drive T- and B-cell development and function. This web focus is freely accessible during May, and also features an editorial and online collections of research highlights, a library of landmark publications, classic papers, essays and reviews.

From this month’s Nature Immunology Editorial:" It is exciting to think that years after the initial recognition of the crucial roles played by these transcription factors during lymphocyte development, so many details of their functions remain to be understood. Only after the identification of the proteins and processes that are influenced directly or indirectly by these transcription factors can we accurately place them within the big picture of lymphocyte lineage specification."