IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v485y2012i7400d10.1038_nature11061.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The let-7–Imp axis regulates ageing of the Drosophila testis stem-cell niche

Author

Listed:
  • Hila Toledano

    (Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
    Present address: Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.)

  • Cecilia D’Alterio

    (Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies)

  • Benjamin Czech

    (Watson School of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA)

  • Erel Levine

    (Harvard University)

  • D. Leanne Jones

    (Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies)

Abstract

Adult stem cells support tissue homeostasis and repair throughout the life of an individual. During ageing, numerous intrinsic and extrinsic changes occur that result in altered stem-cell behaviour and reduced tissue maintenance and regeneration. In the Drosophila testis, ageing results in a marked decrease in the self-renewal factor Unpaired (Upd), leading to a concomitant loss of germline stem cells. Here we demonstrate that IGF-II messenger RNA binding protein (Imp) counteracts endogenous small interfering RNAs to stabilize upd (also known as os) RNA. However, similar to upd, Imp expression decreases in the hub cells of older males, which is due to the targeting of Imp by the heterochronic microRNA let-7. In the absence of Imp, upd mRNA therefore becomes unprotected and susceptible to degradation. Understanding the mechanistic basis for ageing-related changes in stem-cell behaviour will lead to the development of strategies to treat age-onset diseases and facilitate stem-cell-based therapies in older individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Hila Toledano & Cecilia D’Alterio & Benjamin Czech & Erel Levine & D. Leanne Jones, 2012. "The let-7–Imp axis regulates ageing of the Drosophila testis stem-cell niche," Nature, Nature, vol. 485(7400), pages 605-610, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:485:y:2012:i:7400:d:10.1038_nature11061
    DOI: 10.1038/nature11061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11061
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature11061?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:485:y:2012:i:7400:d:10.1038_nature11061. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.