Publication Date:
2001-12-26
Description:
Stem cells generate many differentiated, short-lived cell types, such as blood, skin, and sperm, throughout adult life. Stem cells maintain a long-term capacity to divide, producing daughter cells that either self-renew or initiate differentiation. Although the surrounding microenvironment or "niche" influences stem cell fate decisions, few signals that emanate from the niche to specify stem cell self-renewal have been identified. Here we demonstrate that the apical hub cells in the Drosophila testis act as a cellular niche that supports stem cell self-renewal. Hub cells express the ligand Unpaired (Upd), which activates the Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathway in adjacent germ cells to specify self-renewal and continual maintenance of the germ line stem cell population.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kiger, A A -- Jones, D L -- Schulz, C -- Rogers, M B -- Fuller, M T -- GM07790-22/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HD07493/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- P01-DK53074/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM078176/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Dec 21;294(5551):2542-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5329, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11752574" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Cell Differentiation
;
Cell Division
;
Cell Lineage
;
Cues
;
DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics/*metabolism
;
Drosophila/cytology/embryology/genetics/*physiology
;
Drosophila Proteins/*metabolism
;
Germ Cells/*physiology
;
Glycoproteins/*metabolism
;
Janus Kinases
;
Ligands
;
Male
;
Mutation
;
Protein-Tyrosine Kinases/genetics/*metabolism
;
STAT Transcription Factors
;
Signal Transduction
;
Spermatocytes/cytology/physiology
;
Spermatogenesis
;
Stem Cells/cytology/*physiology
;
Testis/cytology/metabolism
;
Trans-Activators/genetics/*metabolism
;
*Transcription Factors
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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