title: Caenorhabditis elegans as a model for stem cell biology.
abstract: We review the application of Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to understand key aspects of stem cell biology. The only bona fide stem cells in C. elegans are those of the germline, which serves as a valuable paradigm for understanding how stem-cell niches influence maintenance and differentiation of stem cells and how somatic differentiation is repressed during germline development. Somatic cells that share stem cell-like characteristics also provide insights into principles in stem-cell biology. The epidermal seam cell lineages lend clues to conserved mechanisms of self-renewal and expansion divisions. Principles of developmental plasticity and reprogramming relevant to stem-cell biology arise from studies of natural transdifferentiation and from analysis of early embryonic progenitors, which undergo a dramatic transition from a pluripotent, reprogrammable condition to a state of committed differentiation. The relevance of these developmental processes to our understanding of stem-cell biology in other organisms is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Pradeep M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Misty R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Riddle
authors.forename: Nareg J V
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Djabrayan
authors.forename: Joel H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D019070:Cell Lineage; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*