Maintenance of niche architecture requires actomyosin and enables proper stem cell signaling and oriented division in the Drosophila testis.

ABSTRACT: Stem cells are essential to repair and regenerate tissues, and often reside in a niche that controls their behavior. Here, we use the Drosophila testis niche, a paradigm for niche-stem cell interactions, to address the cell biological features that maintain niche structure and function during its steady-state operation. We report enrichment of Myosin II (MyoII) and a key regulator of actomyosin contractility (AMC), Rho Kinase (ROK), within the niche cell cortex at the interface with germline stem cells (GSCs). Compromising MyoII and ROK disrupts niche architecture, suggesting that AMC in niche cells is important to maintain its reproducible structure. Furthermore, defects in niche architecture disrupt GSC function. Our data suggest that the niche signals less robustly to adjacent germ cell

SUBMITTER: Vida GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11795290 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature