TODAY!!! TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012
3:30-4:30 P.M.
Marine Science Auditorium, MSRB 1302 Host: Kathy Foltz
Dr. Lucy O’Brien, UC Berkeley
“Supersize Me: Stem cells as agents of adult organ adaptation”
Animals live in dynamic
environments where external conditions vary at cyclic or irregular
intervals. When faced with environmental change, an individual’s
physiological fitness requires its organ systems to functionally
adapt. One type of adult organ adaptation is function-enhancing
growth in response to increased physiological demand. However,
the mechanistic origins of adaptive flexibility and responsiveness
in adult tissues are largely mysterious. I have established the Drosophila
intestine as tractable, stem-based model to study adaptive growth.
When dietary load increases, local insulin secretion by
intestinal tissues triggers gut stem cells to activate a
reversible growth program. The growth response hinges on two
synergistic shifts in stem cell behavior: accelerated division
rate and symmetric daughter fate. Stem cell-driven adaptive
remodeling reveals how adult tissues exploit their renewal
programs to adapt to environmental change.
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