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Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Isolating Intestinal Stem Cells from Adult Drosophila Midguts by FACS to Study Stem Cell Behavior During Aging
Published on: December 16, 2014
Coordinated repression of pro-differentiation genes via P-bodies and transcription maintains Drosophila intestinal
Kasun Buddika1, Yi-Ting Huang1, Ishara S Ariyapala1
1Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Abstract:
The role of processing bodies (P-bodies), key sites of post-transcriptional control, in adult stem cells remains poorly understood. Here, we report that adult Drosophila intestinal stem cells, but not surrounding differentiated cells such as absorptive enterocytes (ECs), harbor P-bodies that contain Drosophila orthologs of mammalian P-body components DDX6, EDC3, EDC4, and LSM14A/B. A targeted RNAi screen in intestinal progenitor cells identified 39 previously known and 64 novel P-body regulators, including Patr-1, a gene necessary for P-body assembly. Loss of Patr-1-dependent P-bodies leads to a loss of stem cells that is associated with inappropriate expression of EC-fate gene nubbin. Transcriptomic analysis of progenitor cells identifies a cadre of such weakly transcribed pro-differentiation transcripts that are elevated after P-body loss. Altogether, this study identifies a P-body-dependent repression activity that coordinates with known transcriptional repression programs to maintain a population of in vivo stem cells in a state primed for differentiation.
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