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Updated: May 5, 2026

In Situ Detection of Ribonucleoprotein Complex Assembly in the C. elegans Germline using Proximity Ligation Assay
Published on: May 5, 2020
SILAC proteomics of planarians identifies Ncoa5 as a conserved component of pluripotent stem cells
Alexander Böser1, Hannes C A Drexler2, Hanna Reuter1
1Max Planck Research Group on Stem Cells and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Von-Esmarch-Strasse 54, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Abstract:
Planarian regeneration depends on the presence of pluripotent stem cells in the adult. We developed an in vivo stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) protocol in planarians to identify proteins that are enriched in planarian stem cells. Through a comparison of SILAC proteomes of normal and stem cell-depleted planarians and of a stem cell-enriched population of sorted cells, we identified hundreds of stem cell proteins. One of these is an ortholog of nuclear receptor coactivator-5 (Ncoa5/CIA), which is known to regulate estrogen-receptor-mediated transcription in human cells. We show that Ncoa5 is essential for the maintenance of the pluripotent stem cell population in planarians and that a putative mouse ortholog is expressed in pluripotent cells of the embryo. Our study thus identifies a conserved component of pluripotent stem cells, demonstrating that planarians, in particular, when combined with in vivo SILAC, are a powerful model in stem cell research.
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