JCB logo
Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc.
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Latest Articles
Published online
doi:10.1083/jcb.200904118
The Journal of Cell Biology
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $30.00
© Hayashi et al.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 3376K)
Right arrow PDF+supp data (4625K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Supplemental Material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hayashi, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Nakato, H.
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Hayashi, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Nakato, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

REPORT

Drosophila glypicans regulate the germline stem cell niche



Yoshiki Hayashi1,2, Satoru Kobayashi2, and Hiroshi Nakato1

1 Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
2 Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki 444-8787, Japan

Correspondence to Hiroshi Nakato: nakat003{at}umn.edu

Stem cells are maintained in vivo by short-range signaling systems in specialized microenvironments called niches, but the molecular mechanisms controlling the physical space of the stem cell niche are poorly understood. In this study, we report that heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans (HSPGs) are essential regulators of the germline stem cell (GSC) niches in the Drosophila melanogaster gonads. GSCs were lost in both male and female gonads of mutants deficient for HS biosynthesis. dally, a Drosophila glypican, is expressed in the female GSC niche cells and is responsible for maintaining the GSC niche. Ectopic expression of dally in the ovary expanded the niche area, showing that dally is required for restriction of the GSC niche space. Interestingly, the other glypican, dally-like, plays a major role in regulating male GSC niche maintenance. We propose that HSPGs define the physical space of the niche by serving as trans coreceptors, mediating short-range signaling by secreted factors.

Abbreviations used in this paper: Bam, bag of marbles; BMP, bone morphogenetic protein; Dlp, Dally-like; Dpp, decapentaplegic; E-Cad, epithelial cadherin; FasIII, fasciclin III; Gbb, Glass-bottom boat; GSC, germline stem cell; HS, heparan sulfate; HSPG, HS proteoglycan; Hts, Hu-li tai shao; JAK/STAT, Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription; PGC, primordial germ cell; sfl, sulfateless; ttv, tout-velu; UAS, upstream activation sequence; Upd, Unpaired; Vas, Vasa.

© 2009 Hayashi et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jcb.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Latest Articles