379C Poster - 04. Stem cells, regeneration and tissue injury
Saturday April 09, 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Authors:
Tiffany Roach; Kari Lenhart

Affiliation: Drexel University

Keywords:
f. niche and other local signaling; m. live imaging

Stem cells rely on instructional cues from their specialized microenvironment, or niche, to balance the production of self-renewing and differentiating daughter cells. Many adult tissues must coordinate the divisions and behaviors of multiple stem cell lineages to generate and maintain tissue. The Drosophila testis niche exhibits coordination between germline stem cells (GSCs) and cyst stem cells (CySCs) such that each differentiating GSC daughter must become completely encapsulated, or encysted, by two daughters of the CySC lineage. Our lab has found a modified cytokinesis program in GSCs that is critical for coordinated release of differentiating daughters. However, almost nothing is known about the cytokinesis program and cellular dynamics of the CySC lineage that may be acting in conjunction to facilitate this interaction. By establishing a combination of fluorescent markers to live image the CySC lineage, I will investigate CySC cytokinesis to determine the presence of a modified cytokinesis program that may be operating in tandem with GSC cytokinesis to enable coordinated release of stem cell daughters. Ultimately, this powerful new imaging system will permit us to identify the cell biology and temporal dynamics by which the 2:1 soma to germline ratio is established for tissue homeostasis. This work will extend our knowledge of the interactions and complex dynamics of two distinct stem cell populations within the testis niche.