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Science 13 October 2000:
Vol. 290. no. 5490, pp. 328 - 330
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5490.328
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Reports

A Niche Maintaining Germ Line Stem Cells in the Drosophila Ovary

Ting Xie,* Allan C. Spradling

Stromal cells are thought to generate specific regulatory microenviroments or "niches" that control stem cell behavior. Characterizing stem cell niches in vivo remains an important goal that has been difficult to achieve. The individual ovarioles of the Drosophila ovary each contain about two germ line stem cells that maintain oocyte production. Here we show that anterior ovariolar somatic cells comprising three cell types act as a germ line stem cell niche. Germ line stem cells lost by normal or induced differentiation are efficiently replaced, and the ability to repopulate the niche increases the functional lifetime of ovarioles in vivo. Our studies implicate one of the somatic cell types, the cap cells, as a key niche component.

Department of Embryology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 115 West University Parkway, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA.
E-mail: tgx{at}stowers-institute.org; spradling{at}mail1.ciwemb.edu
*   Present address: Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 East 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA.

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