Journal
BIOLOGY OPEN
Volume 3, Issue 6, Pages 510-521Publisher
COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/Bio.20147690
Keywords
Ballchen; Drosophila; Germline stem cells
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Funding
- Max-Planck-Society
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Self-renewing stem cells are pools of undifferentiated cells, which are maintained in cellular niche environments by distinct tissuespecific signalling pathways. In Drosophila melanogaster, female germline stem cells (GSCs) are maintained in a somatic niche of the gonads by BMP signalling. Here we report a novel function of the Drosophila kinase Ballchen (BALL), showing that its cell autonomous role is to maintain the self-renewing capacity of female GSCs independent of BMP signalling. ball mutant GSCs are eliminated from the niche and subsequently differentiate into mature eggs, indicating that BALL is largely dispensable for differentiation. Similar to female GSCs, BALL is required to maintain self-renewal of male GSCs, suggesting a tissue independent requirement of BALL for self-renewal of germline stem cells.
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