Purpose and regulation of stem cells: a systems-biology view from the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line

Stem cells are expected to play a key role in the development and maintenance of organisms, and hold great therapeutic promises. However, a number of questions must be answered to achieve an understanding of stem cells and put them to use. Here I review some of these questions, and how they relate to the model system provided by the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line, which is exceptional in its thorough genetic characterization and experimental accessibility under in vivo conditions. A fundamental question is how to define a stem cell; different definitions can be adopted that capture different features of interest. In the C. elegans germ line, stem cells can be defined by cell lineage or by cell commitment ('commitment' must itself be carefully defined). These definitions are associated with two other important questions about stem cells: their functions (which must be addressed following a systems approach, based on an evolutionary perspective) and their regulation. I review possible functions and their evolutionary groundings, including genome maintenance and powerful regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, and possible regulatory mechanisms, including asymmetrical division and control of transit amplification by a developmental timer. I draw parallels between Drosophila and C. elegans germline stem cells; such parallels raise intriguing questions about Drosophila stem cells. I conclude by showing that the C. elegans germ line bears similarities with a number of other stem cell systems, which underscores its relevance to the understanding of stem cells.

The establishment of regional identity in the Xenopus blastula

The molecules involved in the commitment of Xenopus cells to particular germ layers are unknown. The question has been investigated for the cells of the blastula in in vivo cell transplantation assays and in vitro aggregation assays. Using the former technique, we have shown that vegetal cells become committed before gastrulation, even when placed in inappropriate sites. We could find no evidence of regional determination within the endoderm germ layer at the early gastrula stage. In aggregation assays, animal and vegetal cells sorted incompletely at the mid-blastula stage and more efficiently at the gastrula stage. Their behaviour may be mediated by differential expression of adhesion molecules, which so far remain unidentified.

Pathway selection by ectopic motoneurons in embryonic zebrafish

Primary motoneurons in embryonic zebrafish innervate cell-specific muscles. During pathfinding, motoneuronal growth cones encounter three distinct regions: a common pathway, a choice point, and separate cell-specific pathways. To learn whether the order in which these regions are encountered influences pathway choice, we transplanted individual motoneurons to the choice point region. These cells selected their appropriate cell-specific pathways. Thus, the sequence in which pathway regions are encountered may not be important for accurate path-finding, and the cell-specific pathways may be delineated by distinct cues that individual growth cones recognize. Moreover, these cues are unlikely to be general ones, since primary sensory neurons transplanted to the same location do not extend growth cones along the motoneuronal pathways.

States of determination of single cells transplanted between 512-cell Xenopus embryos

Single cells from 512-cell Xenopus embryos, totally labeled with intracellular horseradish peroxidase, were transplanted orthotopically (from either dorsal or lateral marginal zone) or heterotopically (between these two marginal zones) to unlabeled host embryos at the 512-cell stage. At tailbud stage 23 the locations, numbers, and histotypes of labeled cells were recorded. The transplanted cell had divided many times, giving rise to labeled progeny that expressed a wide range of cell types and were located in several different organs. Locations and cell types of progeny derived from orthotopic grafts to the dorsal marginal zone were different from those derived from grafts to the lateral marginal zone. Single cells grafted heterotopically to either dorsal or lateral positions expressed fates that were appropriate to their final grafted positions, and not to their original positions. We conclude that individual cells of the marginal zone at the 512-cell stage have multiple presumptive fates and have not been committed to any single fate.