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Nonautonomous regulation of Drosophila midgut stem cell proliferation by the insulin-signaling pathway.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila adult midgut intestinal stem cells (ISCs) maintain tissue homeostasis by producing progeny that replace dying enterocytes and enteroendocrine cells. ISCs adjust their rates of proliferation in response to enterocyte turnover through a positive feedback loop initiated by secreted enterocyte-derived ligands. However, less is known about whether ISC proliferation is affected by growth of the progeny as they differentiate. Here we show that nutrient deprivation and reduced insulin signaling results in production of growth-delayed enterocytes and prolonged contact between ISCs and newly formed daughters. Premature disruption of cell contact between ISCs and their progeny leads to increased ISC proliferation and rescues proliferation defects in insulin receptor mutants and nutrient-deprived animals. These results suggest that ISCs can indirectly sense changes in nutrient and insulin levels through contact with their daughters and reveal a mechanism that could link physiological changes in tissue growth to stem cell proliferation.

SUBMITTER: Choi NH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3219098 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Many developing tissues display regenerative capability that allows them to compensate cell loss and preserve tissue homeostasis. Because of their remarkable regenerative capability, Drosophila wing discs are extensively used for the study of regenerative phenomena. We thus used the developing wing to investigate the role played in tissue homeostasis by the evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic H/ACA small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein pseudouridine synthase. Here we show that localized depletion of this enzyme can act as an endogenous stimulus capable of triggering apoptosis-induced proliferation, and that context-dependent effects are elicited in different sub-populations of the silenced cells. In fact, some cells undergo apoptosis, whereas those surrounding the apoptotic foci, although identically depleted, overproliferate. This overproliferation correlates with ectopic induction of the Wg and JAK-STAT (Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription) mitogenic pathways. Expression of a p35 transgene, which blocks the complete execution of the death program and generates the so-called 'undead cells', amplifies the proliferative response. Pseudouridine synthase depletion also causes loss of apicobasal polarity, disruption of adherens cell junctions and ectopic induction of JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) and Mmp1 (matrix metalloproteinase-1) activity, leading to a significant epithelial reorganization. Unexpectedly, cell-nonautonomous effects, such as epithelial mesenchymal transition in the contiguous unsilenced squamous epithelium, are also promoted. Collectively, these data point out that cell-cell communication and long-range signaling can take a relevant role in the response to pseudouridine synthase decline. Considering that all the affected pathways are highly conserved throughout evolution, it is plausible that the response to pseudouridine synthase depletion has been widely preserved. On this account, our results can add new light on the still unexplained tumor predisposition that characterizes X-linked dyskeratosis, the human disease caused by reduced pseudouridine synthase activity.

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Nonautonomous regulation of Drosophila midgut stem cell proliferation by the insulin-signaling pathway.

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