Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
PLoS Genet. 2021 Oct 13;17(10):e1009834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009834. eCollection 2021 Oct.
Stem cells have the potential to maintain undifferentiated state and differentiate into specialized cell types. Despite numerous progress has been achieved in understanding stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, many fundamental questions remain unanswered. In this study, we identify dRTEL1, the Drosophila homolog of Regulator of Telomere Elongation Helicase 1, as a novel regulator of male germline stem cells (GSCs). Our genome-wide transcriptome analysis and ChIP-Seq results suggest that dRTEL1 affects a set of candidate genes required for GSC maintenance, likely independent of its role in DNA repair. Furthermore, dRTEL1 prevents DNA damage-induced checkpoint activation in GSCs. Finally, dRTEL1 functions to sustain Stat92E protein levels, the key player in GSC maintenance. Together, our findings reveal an intrinsic role of the DNA helicase dRTEL1 in maintaining male GSC and provide insight into the function of dRTEL1.
干细胞具有保持未分化状态和分化为特定细胞类型的潜力。尽管在理解干细胞自我更新和分化方面已经取得了许多进展，但仍有许多基本问题尚未得到解答。在这项研究中，我们鉴定了 dRTEL1，即果蝇端粒延长解旋酶 1 的同源物，作为一种新型的雄性生殖干细胞 (GSCs) 调控因子。我们的全基因组转录组分析和 ChIP-Seq 结果表明，dRTEL1 影响一组维持 GSC 所需的候选基因，可能与其在 DNA 修复中的作用无关。此外，dRTEL1 可防止 GSCs 中 DNA 损伤诱导的检查点激活。最后，dRTEL1 维持 Stat92E 蛋白水平的功能，Stat92E 是 GSC 维持的关键因子。总之，我们的研究结果揭示了 DNA 解旋酶 dRTEL1 在维持雄性 GSC 中的内在作用，并为 dRTEL1 的功能提供了新的见解。
