title: Scratching the niche that controls Caenorhabditis elegans germline stem cells.
abstract: The Caenorhabditis elegans gonad provides a well-defined model for a stem cell niche and its control of self-renewal and differentiation. The distal tip cell (DTC) forms a mesenchymal niche that controls germline stem cells (GSCs), both to generate the germline tissue during development and to maintain it during adulthood. The DTC uses GLP-1/Notch signaling to regulate GSCs; germ cells respond to Notch signaling with a network of RNA regulators to control the decision between self-renewal and entry into the meiotic cell cycle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 433 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1544, USA. dbyrd@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Dana T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Byrd
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kimble
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis; D008954:Models, Biological; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D012313:RNA