During development and homeostasis, it is essential to coordinate growth with the availability of nutrients. The interconnected insulin/IGF (IIS) and target of rapamycin (TOR) pathways integrate tissue growth with dietary conditions in Drosophila, and now Marc Haenlin and co-workers show that these pathways play a crucial role during haematopoiesis in the Drosophila lymph gland (p. 1713). The larval lymph gland contains a group of stem-like progenitor blood cells (prohaemocytes) that are kept in an undifferentiated state by cells of the posterior signalling centre (PSC), which serves as the stem cell niche. The researchers show that the IIS and TOR pathways regulate the size of the haematopoietic niche by regulating cell size and cell proliferation in the PSC. In addition, they show that IIS and TOR signalling are required in prohaemocytes to control their maintenance, and disruption of these pathways, induced genetically or by starvation, results in the precocious differentiation of these progenitors. Importantly, these studies highlight that blood cell development is coupled with nutritional status.
A TOR de force in the haematopoietic niche
A TOR de force in the haematopoietic niche. Development 15 May 2012; 139 (10): e1001. doi:
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