Control of Stem Cell Fate in Drosophila Spermatogenesis

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Abstract Adult stem cells regenerate tissue by dividing asymmetrically, producing both new stem cells and differentiating daughters. Spermatogonial stem cells provide a lifetime supply of sperm in organisms ranging from flies to man. Like all germline stem cells, they uniquely transmit the genome to future generations. Signals from specialized local microenvironments (or niches) regulate stem cells in general, but in most tissues niches are difficult to identify and manipulate in vivo. An exception is the Drosophila testis, which is a leading model for stem cell biology. In this tissue, local Janus-kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (Jak-STAT) signaling promotes stem cell renewal within a well-defined niche, while cells exiting the niche differentiate. In our prior work, characterization of STAT targets led us to discover that an individual stem cell can acquire a mutation that gives it a competitive advantage: as a result, that cell and its progeny can displace all of the neighboring (wild-type) stem cells from the niche over time. This phenomenon, called stem cell competition, has intriguing but unproven connections to human reproduction. Older fathers have a higher risk of having children with genetic defects such as dwarfism that are caused by rare, dominant activating mutations in signaling pathway components. Although the mutations are bad for the offspring, they are thought to be are selected for in aging men because they give individual spermatogonial stem cells a competitive advantage. Since stem cell competition has not been observed directly in mammals and is not understood mechanistically, in Aim 1 we characterize this process in depth using the Drosophila testis, which offers genetic approaches that surpass those available in mammals, and should inform the understanding of stem cell competition quite generally. In addition to controlling stem cell competition, niche signals also ensure that stem cells in the adult Drosophila testis maintain their “male” identity. Sex maintenance, which is a type of stem cell transdifferentiation, occurs in mammals but is not well understood mechanistically. Therefore, in Aim 2 we combine genome-wide analysis of gene expression with genetic tools unique to Drosophila to learn how sex maintenance is regulated in vivo. This will advance the field of regenerative medicine and continue to expand our understanding of spermatogonial stem cells - the cornerstone of male reproduction.