Hime and Quinn labs paper published in December 13 issue of Stem Cell Reports

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The publication discusses the analysis of the Drosophila ortholog of the Retinoblastoma gene (Rbf, a tumour suppressor frequently mutated in human tumours) and showed that mutation of this gene specifically in the stem cell niche of the Drosophila testis resulted in failure of niche differentiation leading to subsequent over-proliferation of germline stem cells. This is a case where a tumour suppressor gene is functioning in niche cells to regulate proliferation of a stem cell population and may indicate that these types of genes could affect tumour formation when not specifically mutated in the tumour cells themselves.

The title of the paper is ‘Rbf regulates Drosophila spermatogenesis via control of somatic stem and progenitor cell fate in the larval testis’ and will be in the December 13 issue of Stem Cell Reports.