Efficiency of Spermatogonial Dedifferentiation during Aging

Adult stem cells are critical for tissue homeostasis; therefore, the mechanisms utilized to maintain an adequate stem cell pool are important for the survival of an individual. In Drosophila, one mechanism utilized to replace lost germline stem cells (GSCs) is dedifferentiation of early progenitor cells. However, the average number of male GSCs decreases with age, suggesting that stem cell replacement may become compromised in older flies.Using a temperature sensitive allelic combination of Stat92E to control dedifferentiation, we found that germline dedifferentiation is remarkably efficient in older males; somatic cells are also effectively replaced. Surprisingly, although the number of somatic cyst cells also declines with age, the proliferation rate of early somatic cells, including cyst stem cells (CySCs) increases.These data indicate that defects in spermatogonial dedifferentiation are not likely to contribute significantly to an aging-related decline in GSCs. In addition, our findings highlight differences in the ways GSCs and CySCs age. Strategies to initiate or enhance the ability of endogenous, differentiating progenitor cells to replace lost stem cells could provide a powerful and novel strategy for maintaining tissue homeostasis and an alternative to tissue replacement therapy in older individuals

Heterochromatin components in germline stem cell maintenance

Stem cell maintenance requires expression of genes essential for stemness and repression of differentiation genes. How this is achieved remains incompletely understood. Here we investigate the requirement for central components of heterochromatin, Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1) and the histone H3 lys9 methyltransferase Su(var)3-9, in the Drosophila male germline stem cell (GSC) self-renewal, a paradigm for studying adult stem cell behavior. We found that mutations or RNAi knock down of HP1 or Su(var)3-9 cause loss of GSCs, accompanied by defects in cell division or survival and premature expression of the differentiation gene bag of marbles (bam). Conversely, over-expressing HP1 increases GSC number in wildtype flies and, strikingly, restores fertility to the sterile hopscotch (hop) mutant flies that lack niche signals. These results suggest that the central components of heterochromatin play roles including repressing differentiation genes in Drosophila male GSC maintenance

Epigenetic Regulation of Stem Cell Maintenance in the Drosophila Testis via the Nucleosome-Remodeling Factor NURF

SummaryRegulation of stem cells depends on both tissue-specific transcriptional regulators and changes in chromatin organization, yet the coordination of these events in endogenous niches is poorly understood. In the Drosophila testis, local JAK-STAT signaling maintains germline and somatic stem cells (GSCs and cyst progenitor cells, or CPCs) in a single niche. Here we show that epigenetic regulation via the nucleosome-remodeling factor (NURF) complex ensures GSC and CPC maintenance by positively regulating JAK-STAT signaling, thereby preventing premature differentiation. Conversely, NURF is not required in early differentiating daughter cells of either lineage. Because three additional ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers (ACF, CHRAC, and dMi-2/NuRD) are dispensable for stem cell maintenance in the testis, epigenetic regulation of stem cells within this niche may rely primarily on NURF. Thus, local signals cooperate with specific chromatin-remodeling complexes in intact niches to coordinately regulate a common set of target genes to prevent premature stem cell differentiation