The nucleolus was proposed to be a domain of the sequestration of molecules that normally operate outside this organelle, mainly in the nucleoplasm. Sequestration in the yeast nucleolus of the phosphatase cdc14 and its release into the cytoplasm at anaphase was demonstrated to be a key event in cell cycle progression (for a review see Cockell and Gasser 1999; Guarente 2000; Visintin and Amon 2000) . However, it is important to recall that there is no nucleolus during mitosis in mammalian cells. In mammalian interphase cells, the nucleolus is a domain of retention of molecules related to cell cycle, life span, and apoptosis, and is in particular an actor of the p53-dependent pathway. Recently nucleolar retention of the Hand1 transcription factor was observed in trophoblast stem cells (Martindill et al. 2007 ). Phosphorylation of Hand1 induced nucleolar to nucleoplasm translocation of Hand1 and commitment of stem cells to diVerentiate into giant cells. Hand1 translocation to the nucleoplasm might regulate a crucial step of stem cell diVerentiation into polyploid giant cells but the targets of Hand1 in the nucleoplasm are still undeWned.