Loss of Apc, a tumor suppressor gene conserved from flies to mammals, results in gastrointestinal tumour initiation in humans. Now, on p. 2255, Craig Micchelli and colleagues identify an intriguing novel role for Apc in regulating the proliferation of Drosophila intestinal stem cells(ISCs). The authors demonstrate that reducing Apc function interferes with midgut homeostasis and leads to hyperplasia and multilayering of the midgut epithelium. Inducing small groups of labelled cells that lack Apc function in the adult midgut reveals that Apc is required specifically in the midgut ISC lineage for homeostasis. Apcloss does not affect ISC self-renewal or fate specification, but does increase ISC proliferation. In addition, activating Wnt signalling in ISCs results in phenotypes similar to those caused by Apc mutations, whereas reducing Wnt signalling suppresses the hyperplasia triggered by the loss of Apc. Based on these data, the authors conclude that Wnt signalling partly mediates the effects of Apc, and propose that Drosophila ISCs might be a useful model for investigating gastrointestinal tumour initiation.
Intestinal stem cells bust a gut without Apc
Intestinal stem cells bust a gut without Apc. Development 1 July 2009; 136 (13): e1301. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.