Insulin levels control female germline stem cell maintenance via the niche in Drosophila
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232-8240
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Edited by Allan C. Spradling, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore, MD, and approved November 26, 2008 (received for review September 12, 2008)
Abstract
Stem cell maintenance depends on local signals provided by specialized microenvironments, or niches, in which they reside. The potential role of systemic factors in stem cell maintenance, however, has remained largely unexplored. Here, we show that insulin signaling integrates the effects of diet and age on germline stem cell (GSC) maintenance through the dual regulation of cap cell number (via Notch signaling) and cap cell–GSC interaction (via E-cadherin) and that the normal process of GSC and niche cell loss that occurs with age can be suppressed by increased levels of insulin-like peptides. These results underscore the importance of systemic factors for the regulation of stem cell niches and, thereby, of stem cell numbers.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: daniela.drummond-barbosa{at}vanderbilt.edu
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Author contributions: H.-J.H. and D.D.-B. designed research; H.-J.H. performed research; H.-J.H. and D.D.-B. analyzed data; and H.-J.H. and D.D.-B. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0809144106/DCSupplemental.
- © 2009 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
