Proper control of adult stem cells including their proliferation and differentiation is crucial in maintaining homeostasis of well-organized tissues/organs throughout an organism's life. The Drosophila adult midgut has intestinal stem cells (ISCs), which have been exploited as a simple model system to investigate mechanisms controlling adult tissue homeostasis. Here, we found that a viable mutant of βν integrin (βint-ν), encoding one of two Drosophila integrin β subunits, showed a short midgut and abnormal multilayered epithelia accompanied by an increase in ISC proliferation and misdifferentiation defects. The increase in ISC proliferation and misdifferentiation was due to frequent ISC duplication expanding a pool of ISCs, which was caused by depression of the Notch signalling, and up-regulation of unpaired (upd), a gene encoding an extracellular ligand in the JAK/STAT signalling pathway. In addition, we observed that abnormally high accumulation of filamentous actin (F-actin) was caused in the βint-ν mutant enterocytes. Furthermore, the defects were rescued by suppressing c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signalling, which was up-regulated in a manner correlated with the defect levels in the above-mentioned βint-ν mutant phenotype. These symptoms observed in young βint-ν mutant midgut were very similar to those in the aged midgut in wild type. Our results suggested that βint-ν has a novel function for the Drosophila adult midgut homeostasis under normal conditions and provided a new insight into possible age-related diseases caused by latent abnormality of an integrin function.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3930726 | PMC |
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089387 | PLOS |
Environ Geochem Health
December 2024
School of Mechanical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
Environmental exposures to volatile organic compound (VOC) mixtures have received increasing attention, yet the risks are under studied. This study aimed to explore the risks of combined exposures to several commonly detected VOCs and to draw attention to the necessity of studying long-term and low-concentration environmental exposure patterns. In this study, we examined the effects of long-term and low-concentration exposures to VOCs like 1,2-dichlorobenzene, benzene, toluene and formaldehyde either alone or in combination on D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Therm Biol
December 2024
Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia. Electronic address:
Sleep is a fundamental physiological process conserved through evolution, from worms to humans. Understanding how temperature influences sleep is essential for comprehending the complexities of animal behavior, physiology, and their adaptations to thermal environments. This study explores the impact of temperature on sleep behavior and patterns in Drosophila melanogaster.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
December 2024
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America.
A small population of stem cells in the developing Drosophila central nervous system generates the large number of different cell types that make up the adult brain. To achieve this, these neural stem cells (neuroblasts, NBs) divide asymmetrically to produce non-identical daughter cells. The balance between stem cell self-renewal and neural differentiation is regulated by various cellular machinery, including transcription factors, chromatin remodelers, and RNA-binding proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biochem
December 2024
Department of Neurogenetics, Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan.
Sleep quality and quantity decrease with age, and sleep disturbance increases the risk of many age-associated diseases. There is a significant relationship between nutritional status and sleep outcomes, with malnutrition inducing poor sleep quality in older adults. However, it remains elusive whether, and if so how, nutritional supplementation prevents age-associated sleep problems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElife
December 2024
Research Center for Cellular Identity, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
establishes social clusters in groups, yet the underlying principles remain poorly understood. Here we performed a systemic analysis of social network behavior (SNB) that quantifies individual social distance (SD) in a group over time. The SNB assessment in 175 inbred strains from the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel showed a tight association of short SD with long developmental time, low food intake, and hypoactivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!