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Protecting and exploiting muscle satellite cells; tales from Drosophila
Speaker: Professor Sarah Bray, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
When: 13.00 - 14.00, Tuesday 30 October
Where: Classroom G8, New Hunt’s House, Guy’s Campus
Host: Simon Hughes
Abstract: Adult stem cells are important for tissue maintenance and repair. One key question is how these cells are protected from differentiation for a prolonged period. Investigating the maintenance of Drosophila muscle satellite cells we demonstrate that it involves a switch in RNA-isoforms that is regulated by the activity of the Notch pathway. This drives expression of a short RNA isoform of Zfh1/Zeb1 which allows the cells to escape the effects of a micro-RNA so enabling them to retain their progenitor status and persist in the adult. There, like mammalian satellite cells, they contribute to muscle homeostasis. Such preferential regulation of a specific RNA isoform, with differential sensitivity to miRs, is a powerful mechanism for maintaining a population of poised progenitors and can be exploited to expand these cells in conditions that promote tumorigenesis.
Event details
Classroom G8, New Hunt’s HouseGuy’s Campus
Great Maze Pond, London SE1 1UL