Advanced search×

Drosophila Stem Cell Niches: A Decade of Discovery Suggests a Unified View of Stem Cell Regulation

Vicki P VP Losick, Lucy X LX Morris, Donald T DT Fox, and Allan A Spradling

Dev Cell 21(1):13 (2011) PMID 21763616

The past decade of research on Drosophila stem cells and niches has provided key insights. Fly stem cells do not occupy a special ''state'' based on novel ''stem cell genes'' but resemble transiently arrested tissue progenitors. Moreover, individual stem cells and downstream progenitors are highly dynamic and dispensable, not tissue bulwarks. Niches, rather than fixed cell lineages, ensure tissue health by holding stem cells and repressing cell differentiation inside, but not outside. We review the five best-understood adult Drosophila stem cells and argue that the fundamental biology of stem cells and niches is conserved between Drosophila and mice.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2011.06.018
Version: za2963e q8za0 q8zb1 q8zc0 q8zda q8ze1 q8zfa q8zg1

Similar articles you may find interesting…

  1. Otx/otd Homeobox Genes Specify Distinct Sensory Neuron Identities in C. elegans
    Anne A Lanjuin, Miri K MK VanHoven, ... Piali P Sengupta

    Dev Cell 5(4):13 (2003) PMID 14536063

    We show here that ceh-36 and ceh-37, the remaining two Otx-like genes in the C. elegans genome, specify the identities of AWC, ASE, and AWB chemosensory neurons, defining a role for this gene family in sensory neuron specification. All C. elegans Otx genes and rat Otx1 can substitute for ceh-37 and...
  2. Assessment and prediction of thermal transport at solid-self-assembled monolayer junctions.
    John C Duda, Christopher B Saltonstall, ... Patrick E Hopkins

    J Chem Phys 134(9):094704 (2011) PMID 21384994

    We have investigated the vibrational spectra of alkanedithiol-based SAMs as a function of the number of methylene groups forming the molecular backbone via Hartree-Fock methods. In the case of Au-alkanedithiol junctions, it is found that despite the addition of nine new vibrational modes per added m...
  3. Production of functional glucagon-secreting α-cells from human embryonic stem cells.
    Rezania

    Diabetes 60(1):239-47 (2011) PMID 20971966 PMCID PMC3012176

    We describe an efficient differentiation protocol for the in vitro conversion of hES cells to functional glucagon-producing alpha cells. Research Design and Methods - Using a combination of high-throughput small molecule screening and empirical testing, we developed a six-stage differentiation proto...
    View PDF