Introduction

In this study, we focused on investigating nuclear post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms in Drosophila intestinal stem cells. In a genetic screen, we identified a protein SWM (second mitotic wave missing), that affected stem cell number and poly(A) RNA distribution when knocked down in intestinal stem cells. Here is the abstract of the manuscript:

Abstract

The regulation of stem cell survival, self-renewal, and differentiation is critical for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. Although the involvement of signaling pathways and transcriptional control mechanisms in stem cell regulation have been extensively investigated, the role of post-transcriptional control is still poorly understood. Here we show that the nuclear activity of the RNA-binding protein Second Mitotic Wave Missing (Swm) is critical for Drosophila intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and their daughter cells, enteroblasts (EBs), to maintain their identity and function. Loss of swm in these intestinal progenitor cells leads ISCs and EBs to lose defined cell identities, fail to proliferate, and detach from the basement membrane, resulting in severe progenitor cell loss. swm loss further causes nuclear accumulation of poly(A)+ RNA in progenitor cells. Swm associates with transcripts involved in epithelial cell maintenance and adhesion, and the loss of swm, while not generally affecting the levels of these Swm-bound mRNAs, leads to elevated expression of proteins encoded by some of them, including the fly orthologs of Filamin and Talin. Taken together, this study indicates a role for Swm in adult stem cell maintenance, and raises the possibility that nuclear post-transcriptional gene regulation plays vital roles in controlling adult stem cell maintenance and function.

Further Reading

If you are interested in reading more about how intestinal stem cells are regulated via nuclear post-transcriptional gene regulatory mechanisms, please read our most recent pre-print that is freely available here.

Cite this work

Ariyapala IS, Buddika K, Hundley HA, Calvi, BR, Sokol NS. The RNA binding protein Swm is critical for Drosophila melanogaster intestinal progenitor cell maintenance. bioRxiv. 2022 Jan 4. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.03.474858.