diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index fe19c086..540bc7d6 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ Authors@R: c(
     person("Gregory","Jefferis", email="jefferis@gmail.com", 
     role = c("aut", "cre"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0002-0587-9355")),
     person("James", "Manton", role = c("aut"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0001-9260-3156")),
-    person("Sridhar", "Jagannathan", role = c("aut"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0002-2078-1145"))
+    person("Sridhar", "Jagannathan", role = c("aut"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0002-2078-1145")),
+    person("Dominik", "Krzeminski", role = c("ctb"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0003-4568-0583"))
     )
 URL: https://github.com/natverse/nat, https://natverse.github.io
 BugReports: https://github.com/natverse/nat/issues
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 04c277f5..bd4895ab 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ S3method("xyzmatrix<-",default)
 S3method("xyzmatrix<-",dotprops)
 S3method("xyzmatrix<-",hxsurf)
 S3method("xyzmatrix<-",igraph)
+S3method("xyzmatrix<-",mesh3d)
 S3method("xyzmatrix<-",neuron)
 S3method("xyzmatrix<-",neuronlist)
 S3method("xyzmatrix<-",shape3d)
@@ -184,6 +185,7 @@ S3method(xform,data.frame)
 S3method(xform,default)
 S3method(xform,dotprops)
 S3method(xform,list)
+S3method(xform,mesh3d)
 S3method(xform,neuron)
 S3method(xform,neuronlist)
 S3method(xform,shape3d)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index f4a68a9c..afae92a0 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ Some new features and bug fixes. Thanks to @PostPreAndCleft and @artxz for repor
 * Fix bug `pan3d()` not found (#447)
 * Added support for multi material binary Amira surface files while fixing
   "Bad triangle numbers" error in `read.hxsurf()` (#445)
+* Add `xform()` and `xyzmatrix<-()` methods for `mesh3d` objects
+* Don't clean `mesh3d` objects read from ply files by default
+* `summary.neuron` now prints number of subtrees (#462, @dokato)
 
 # nat 1.10.2
 
diff --git a/R/dotprops.R b/R/dotprops.R
index 45df2a3e..44f84be7 100644
--- a/R/dotprops.R
+++ b/R/dotprops.R
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ dotprops.neuronlist<-function(x, ..., OmitFailures=NA) {
 #' @param resample When finite, a new length to which all segmented edges will
 #'   be resampled. See \code{\link{resample.neuron}}.
 #' @param topo flag that says whether or not to add topological features
-#' (inverted Strahler's Order and distance from soma)
+#' (reversed Strahler Order and distance from soma)
 #' @rdname dotprops
 dotprops.neuron<-function(x, Labels=NULL, resample=NA, topo=FALSE, ...) {
   if(is.finite(resample)) x=resample(x, stepsize = resample)
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ get_distance_to_soma <- function(n) {
 #'   behaviour for different classes of input object, \code{TRUE} always uses 
 #'   labels when an incoming object has them and \code{FALSE} never uses labels.
 #' @param na.rm Whether to remove \code{NA} points (default FALSE)
-#' @param topo_features topological features of each dotprop
+#' @param topo_features topological features of each dotprops
 #' @importFrom nabor knn
 #' @references The dotprops format is essentially identical to that developed 
 #'   in:
diff --git a/R/neuron-mesh.R b/R/neuron-mesh.R
index c4c8e503..e4074b7e 100644
--- a/R/neuron-mesh.R
+++ b/R/neuron-mesh.R
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 # internal function
 # read a mesh representing a neuron and return a mesh3d object
-read.neuron.mesh <- function(x, ...) {
+read.neuron.mesh <- function(x, updateNormals=FALSE, clean=FALSE, ...) {
   ext=tools::file_ext(x)
   
   if(ext=="ply") {
     if(!requireNamespace('Rvcg', quietly = TRUE))
       stop("Please install suggested library Rvcg to read .ply files!")
-    Rvcg::vcgPlyRead(x, updateNormals=F, ...)
+    m=Rvcg::vcgPlyRead(x, updateNormals=updateNormals, clean=clean, ...)
+    if(!inherits(m, 'shape3d'))
+      class(m)=union(class(m), 'shape3d')
+    m
   } else if(ext=="obj") {
     if(!requireNamespace('readobj', quietly = TRUE))
       stop("Please install suggested library readobj to read .obj files!")
diff --git a/R/summary.R b/R/summary.R
index 239a7d6c..fd6a7cf6 100644
--- a/R/summary.R
+++ b/R/summary.R
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ summary.neuronlist<-function(object, ..., include.attached.dataframe=FALSE) {
 #'   
 #'   \item{cable.length}
 #'   
+#'   \item{nTrees}
+#'   
 #'   }
 #' @export
 #' @examples 
@@ -50,7 +52,8 @@ summary.neuron<-function(object, ...) {
              segments=object$NumSegs,
              branchpoints=length(object$BranchPoints),
              endpoints=length(object$EndPoints),
-             cable.length=total_cable(object))
+             cable.length=total_cable(object),
+             nTrees=ifelse("nTrees" %in% names(object), object$nTrees, 1))
 }
 
 #' @export
diff --git a/R/xform.R b/R/xform.R
index 7dee145d..ed4435b4 100644
--- a/R/xform.R
+++ b/R/xform.R
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ xform.list<-function(x, reg, FallBackToAffine=TRUE, na.action='error', ...){
 #' @rdname xform
 xform.shape3d<-xform.list
 
+#' @export
+#' @rdname xform
+xform.mesh3d<-xform.list
+
 #' @export
 #' @rdname xform
 xform.neuron<-xform.list
@@ -512,6 +516,11 @@ xyzmatrix.mesh3d<-function(x, ...){
   x
 }
 
+#' @export
+#' @rdname xyzmatrix
+`xyzmatrix<-.mesh3d`<-`xyzmatrix<-.shape3d`
+
+
 #' @export
 #' @rdname xyzmatrix
 `xyzmatrix<-.neuronlist`<-function(x, value){
diff --git a/man/dotprops.Rd b/man/dotprops.Rd
index 4a5e6376..5d9d7008 100644
--- a/man/dotprops.Rd
+++ b/man/dotprops.Rd
@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ labels when an incoming object has them and \code{FALSE} never uses labels.}
 be resampled. See \code{\link{resample.neuron}}.}
 
 \item{topo}{flag that says whether or not to add topological features
-(inverted Strahler's Order and distance from soma)}
+(reversed Strahler Order and distance from soma)}
 
 \item{na.rm}{Whether to remove \code{NA} points (default FALSE)}
 
-\item{topo_features}{topological features of each dotprop}
+\item{topo_features}{topological features of each dotprops}
 }
 \description{
 \code{dotprops} makes dotprops representation from raw 3D points
diff --git a/man/summary.neuron.Rd b/man/summary.neuron.Rd
index 151ee596..26292048 100644
--- a/man/summary.neuron.Rd
+++ b/man/summary.neuron.Rd
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ A \code{data.frame} summarising the tree properties of the neuron
   
   \item{cable.length}
   
+  \item{nTrees}
+  
   }
 }
 \description{
diff --git a/man/xform.Rd b/man/xform.Rd
index b67c83f2..23f9b3f4 100644
--- a/man/xform.Rd
+++ b/man/xform.Rd
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 \alias{xform.character}
 \alias{xform.list}
 \alias{xform.shape3d}
+\alias{xform.mesh3d}
 \alias{xform.neuron}
 \alias{xform.data.frame}
 \alias{xform.dotprops}
@@ -22,6 +23,8 @@ xform(x, reg, ...)
 
 \method{xform}{shape3d}(x, reg, FallBackToAffine = TRUE, na.action = "error", ...)
 
+\method{xform}{mesh3d}(x, reg, FallBackToAffine = TRUE, na.action = "error", ...)
+
 \method{xform}{neuron}(x, reg, FallBackToAffine = TRUE, na.action = "error", ...)
 
 \method{xform}{data.frame}(x, reg, subset = NULL, ...)
diff --git a/man/xyzmatrix.Rd b/man/xyzmatrix.Rd
index d024b1e7..4a6cbebf 100644
--- a/man/xyzmatrix.Rd
+++ b/man/xyzmatrix.Rd
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 \alias{xyzmatrix<-.hxsurf}
 \alias{xyzmatrix<-.igraph}
 \alias{xyzmatrix<-.shape3d}
+\alias{xyzmatrix<-.mesh3d}
 \alias{xyzmatrix<-.neuronlist}
 \alias{xyzmatrix<-.shapelist3d}
 \title{Get and assign coordinates for classes containing 3D vertex data}
@@ -59,6 +60,8 @@ xyzmatrix(x) <- value
 
 \method{xyzmatrix}{shape3d}(x) <- value
 
+\method{xyzmatrix}{mesh3d}(x) <- value
+
 \method{xyzmatrix}{neuronlist}(x) <- value
 
 \method{xyzmatrix}{shapelist3d}(x) <- value
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-summary.R b/tests/testthat/test-summary.R
index 314d5dec..f23d394d 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-summary.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-summary.R
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ context("summary")
 
 test_that("summary.neuronlist behaves", {
   expect_is(s <- summary(Cell07PNs), 'data.frame')
-  expect_equal_to_reference(s, file = 'testdata/summary_cell07pns.rda', tolerance=1e-3)
+  expect_equal_to_reference(s, file = 'testdata/summary_cell07pns.rds', tolerance=1e-3)
   expect_is(summary(kcs20, veclength=1.2), 'data.frame')
 })
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/testdata/summary_cell07pns.rda b/tests/testthat/testdata/summary_cell07pns.rda
deleted file mode 100644
index f01e467e..00000000
Binary files a/tests/testthat/testdata/summary_cell07pns.rda and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/tests/testthat/testdata/summary_cell07pns.rds b/tests/testthat/testdata/summary_cell07pns.rds
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c215298e
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/testthat/testdata/summary_cell07pns.rds differ