Germline stem cells: stems of the next generation

Germline stem cells (GSCs) sustain gametogenesis during the life of organisms. Recent progress has substantially extended our understanding of GSC behavior, including the mechanisms of stem cell self-renewal, asymmetric stem cell division, stem cell niches, dedifferentiation, and tissue aging. GSCs typically are highly proliferative, owing to organismal requirement to produce large number of differentiated cells. While many somatic stem cells are multipotent, with multiple differentiation pathways, GSCs are unipotent. For these relatively simple characteristics (e.g. constant proliferation and unipotency), GSCs have served as ideal model systems for the study of adult stem cell behavior, leading to many important discoveries. Here, we summarize recent progress in GSC biology, with an emphasis on evolutionarily conserved mechanisms.

Metabolic sugar signal promotes Arabidopsis meristematic proliferation via G2

Most organs in higher plants are generated postembryonically from the meristems, which harbor continuously dividing stem cells throughout a plant's life cycle. In addition to developmental regulations, mitotic activities in the meristematic tissues are modulated by nutritional cues, including carbon source availability. Here we further analyze the relationship between the sugar signal and seedling meristem establishment, taking advantage of our previous observation that exogenously supplied metabolic sugars can rescue the meristem growth arrest phenotype of the Arabidopsis stip mutant seedlings. Our results show that metabolic sugars reactivate the stip meristems by activating the expression of key cell cycle regulators, and therefore, promoting G2 to M transition in Arabidopsis meristematic tissues. One of the early events in this process is the transcriptional repression of TSS, a genetic suppressor of the stip mutations, by sugar signals, suggesting that TSS may act as an integrator of developmental and nutritional signals in regulating meristematic proliferation. We also present evidence that metabolic sugar signals are required for the activation of mitotic entry during de novo meristem formation from G2 arrested cells. Our observations, together with the recent findings that nutrient deprivation leads to G2 arrest of animal germline stem cells, suggest that carbohydrate availability-regulated G2 to M transition may represent a common mechanism in stem cell division regulation in multicellular organisms.

Metabolic regulation of stem cell behavior and implications for aging

Caloric intake influences metabolic homeostasis, somatic maintenance, tissue regeneration, and longevity in metazoans. Recent studies indicate that nutrient-dependent changes in stem cell populations play an important role in these effects. Here, we review the emerging picture of how nutrient-sensing pathways affect stem cell behavior, providing a mechanism to influence life span.

Stem cell dynamics in response to nutrient availability

When nutrient availability becomes limited, animals must actively adjust their metabolism to allocate limited resources and maintain tissue homeostasis. However, it is poorly understood how tissues maintained by adult stem cells respond to chronic changes in metabolism. To begin to address this question, we fed flies a diet lacking protein (protein starvation) and assayed both germline and intestinal stem cells. Our results revealed a decrease in stem cell proliferation and a reduction in stem cell number; however, a small pool of active stem cells remained. Upon refeeding, stem cell number increased dramatically, indicating that the remaining stem cells are competent to respond quickly to changes in nutritional status. Stem cell maintenance is critically dependent upon intrinsic and extrinsic factors that act to regulate stem cell behavior. Activation of the insulin/IGF signaling pathway in stem cells and adjacent support cells in the germline was sufficient to suppress stem cell loss during starvation. Therefore, our data indicate that stem cells can directly sense changes in the systemic environment to coordinate their behavior with the nutritional status of the animal, providing a paradigm for maintaining tissue homeostasis under metabolic stress.

The effects of aging on stem cell behavior in Drosophila

Throughout life, adult stem cells play essential roles in maintaining tissue and organ function by providing a reservoir of cells for homeostasis and regeneration. A decline in stem cell number or activity may, therefore, lead to compromised organ and tissue function that is characteristic of aging. Drosophila has emerged as an ideal system for studying the relationship between stem cells and aging, as it has a short lifespan, tissues that are maintained by adult stem cells, and conserved pathways known to regulate aging. In this review, we highlight recent findings describing intrinsic and extrinsic age-related changes that affect the behavior of Drosophila germline and intestinal stem cells. We also discuss whether pathways affecting lifespan can act autonomously or non-autonomously in stem cells during aging.

Discs large in the Drosophila testis: an old player on a new task

Gamete development requires a coordinated soma-germ line interaction that ensures renewal and differentiation of germline and somatic stem cells. The physical contact between the germline and somatic cell populations is crucial because it allows the exchange of diffusible signals among them. The tumor suppressor gene discs large (dlg) encodes a septate junction protein with functions in epithelial cell polarity, asymmetric neuroblast division and formation of neuromuscular junctions. Our recent work reveals a new role of dlg in the Drosophila testis, as mutations in dlg lead to testis defects and cell death. Dlg is required throughout spermatogenesis in the somatic lineage and its localization changes from a uniform distribution along the plasma membrane of somatic cells in the testis apex, to a restricted localization on the distally located somatic cell in growing cysts. The extensive defects in dlg testis underline the importance of the somatic cells in the establishment and maintenance of the male stem cell niche and somatic cell differentiation. Here, we discuss our latest findings on the role of dlg in the Drosophila testis, supporting the view that junction proteins are dynamic structures, which can provide guiding cues to recruit scaffold proteins or other signaling molecules.

Genome-wide analyses reveal a role for peptide hormones in planarian germline development

Genomic/peptidomic analyses of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea identifies >200 neuropeptides and uncovers a conserved neuropeptide required for proper maturation and maintenance of the reproductive system.

Bioactive peptides (i.e., neuropeptides or peptide hormones) represent the largest class of cell-cell signaling molecules in metazoans and are potent regulators of neural and physiological function. In vertebrates, peptide hormones play an integral role in endocrine signaling between the brain and the gonads that controls reproductive development, yet few of these molecules have been shown to influence reproductive development in invertebrates. Here, we define a role for peptide hormones in controlling reproductive physiology of the model flatworm, the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. Based on our observation that defective neuropeptide processing results in defects in reproductive system development, we employed peptidomic and functional genomic approaches to characterize the planarian peptide hormone complement, identifying 51 prohormone genes and validating 142 peptides biochemically. Comprehensive in situ hybridization analyses of prohormone gene expression revealed the unanticipated complexity of the flatworm nervous system and identified a prohormone specifically expressed in the nervous system of sexually reproducing planarians. We show that this member of the neuropeptide Y superfamily is required for the maintenance of mature reproductive organs and differentiated germ cells in the testes. Additionally, comparative analyses of our biochemically validated prohormones with the genomes of the parasitic flatworms Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum identified new schistosome prohormones and validated half of all predicted peptide-encoding genes in these parasites. These studies describe the peptide hormone complement of a flatworm on a genome-wide scale and reveal a previously uncharacterized role for peptide hormones in flatworm reproduction. Furthermore, they suggest new opportunities for using planarians as free-living models for understanding the reproductive biology of flatworm parasites.

Flatworms cause diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people, so understanding what influences their reproductive activity is of fundamental importance. Neurally derived signals have been suggested to coordinate sexual reproduction in free-living flatworms, yet the neuroendocrine signaling repertoire has not been characterized comprehensively for any flatworm. Neuropeptides are a large diverse group of cell-cell signaling molecules and play many roles in vertebrate reproductive development; however, little is known about their function in reproductive development among invertebrates. Here we use biochemical and bioinformatic techniques to identify bioactive peptides in the genome of the planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea and identify 51 genes encoding >200 peptides. Analysis of these genes in both sexual and asexual strains of S. mediterranea identified a neuropeptide Y superfamily member as important for the normal development and maintenance of the planarian reproductive system. We suggest that understanding peptide hormone function in planarian reproduction could have practical implications in the treatment of parasitic flatworms.

Spermatogenic cyst and organ culture in Drosophila pseudoobscura

Spermatogenesis is a complex series of processes that involves (1) the maintenance of a renewable pool of diploid stem cells within a niche, (2) the mitotic expansion of a subpopulation of stem cells committed to the spermatogenic pathway, and (3) the differentiation of diploid cells into highly specialized, haploid spermatozoa through meiotic and post-meiotic cellular transformations. Drosophila melanogaster is a desirable model for studying spermatogenesis, as similarities exist between mammalian and fly spermatogenesis. Like mammals, flies maintain a spermatogenic stem cell niche; the steps involved in mammalian spermatogenesis are mimicked in flies, with the main difference being that fly sperm develop within cysts rather than an epithelial cell layer. Here, we report a reliable robust system for culturing whole testes and individual spermatogenic cysts obtained from mid- to late-pupal stages of Drosophila pseudoobscura. D. pseudoobscura testes can be easily distinguished in later pupal stages because of their intense red pigmentation and are easily handled because of their simple ellipsoidal morphology. Cultured cysts are comparable in length to cysts obtained from adult flies, and motility is consistently achieved in vitro. This system not only offers a method for dissecting the mechanisms involved in meiotic and post-meiotic cellular transformations, but also can be used for the study of signaling during spermatogenesis.

Specific roles of Target of rapamycin in the control of stem cells and their progeny in the Drosophila ovary

Stem cells depend on intrinsic and local factors to maintain their identity and activity, but they also sense and respond to changing external conditions. We previously showed that germline stem cells (GSCs) and follicle stem cells (FSCs) in the Drosophila ovary respond to diet via insulin signals. Insulin signals directly modulate the GSC cell cycle at the G2 phase, but additional unknown dietary mediators control both G1 and G2. Target of rapamycin, or TOR, is part of a highly conserved nutrient-sensing pathway affecting growth, proliferation, survival and fertility. Here, we show that optimal TOR activity maintains GSCs but does not play a major role in FSC maintenance, suggesting differential regulation of GSCs versus FSCs. TOR promotes GSC proliferation via G2 but independently of insulin signaling, and TOR is required for the proliferation, growth and survival of differentiating germ cells. We also report that TOR controls the proliferation of FSCs but not of their differentiating progeny. Instead, TOR controls follicle cell number by promoting survival, independently of either the apoptotic or autophagic pathways. These results uncover specific TOR functions in the control of stem cells versus their differentiating progeny, and reveal parallels between Drosophila and mammalian follicle growth.

Drosophila foxo acts in males to cause sexual-dimorphism in tissue-specific p53 life span effects

Sex-specific selective pressures are hypothesized to lead to sexually antagonistic gene functions that contribute to phenotypes such as aging and cancer. However, relatively little is known about the identity of such genes and possible mechanisms. Here we report that nervous system-specific over-expression of wild-type p53 in Drosophila caused decreased life span in males and increased life span in females. In contrast, tissue-general over-expression produced the opposite pattern: increased life span in males and decreased life span in females. In a foxo null background, p53 life span effects in males were reversed, becoming similar to the effects in females. In contrast, a Sir2 null background tended to reduce the magnitude of p53 effects. The data demonstrate that wild-type p53 over-expression can regulate life span independent of foxo, and suggest that foxo acts in males to produce sexually antagonistic life span effects of p53.