The adult Drosophila posterior midgut is maintained by pluripotent stem cells

Ohlstein, Benjamin
Spradling, Allan

¹Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Laboratories, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 3520 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.

doi:10.1038/nature04333

Received 19 August; accepted 22 September 2005.

Published online 7 December 2005.

Author Information Reprints and permissions information is available at npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions. The authors declare no competing financial interests. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.S. ([email protected]).

Nature 439(7075):p 470-474, January 26, 2006.

Vertebrate and invertebrate digestive systems show extensive similarities in their development, cellular makeup and genetic control. TheDrosophilamidgut is typical: enterocytes make up the majority of the intestinal epithelial monolayer, but are interspersed with hormone-producing enteroendocrine cells. Human (and mouse) intestinal cells are continuously replenished by stem cells, the misregulation of which may underlie some common digestive diseases and cancer. In contrast, stem cells have not been described in the intestines of flies, andDrosophilaintestinal cells have been thought to be relatively stable. Here we use lineage labelling to show that adultDrosophilaposterior midgut cells are continuously replenished by a distinctive population of intestinal stem cells (ISCs). As in vertebrates, ISCs are multipotent, and Notch signalling is required to produce an appropriate fraction of enteroendocrine cells. Notch is also required for the differentiation of ISC daughter cells, a role that has not been addressed in vertebrates. Unlike previously characterized stem cells, which reside in niches containing a specific partner stromal cell, ISCs adjoin only the basement membrane, differentiated enterocytes and their most recent daughters. The identification ofDrosophilaintestinal stem cells with striking similarities to their vertebrate counterparts will facilitate the genetic analysis of normal and abnormal intestinal function.