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Title: REGULATION OF THE FATE OF STEM CELLS FROM THE MIDGUT OF THE CATERPILLAR, HELIOTHIS VIRESCENS.

Author
item LOEB, MARCIA
item HAKIM, RAY - HOWARD UNIV WDC
item SMAGGHE, G - FREE UNIV BRUS BELG

Submitted to: In Vitro Cellular And Developmental Biology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/2/2003
Publication Date: 5/25/2003
Citation: Loeb, M.J., Hakim, R.S., Smagghe, G. 2003. Regulation of the fate of stem cells from the midgut of the caterpillar, heliothis virescens. . In Vitro Cellular And Developmental Biology.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Stem cells derived from midguts of several species of Lepidoptera can be induced to multiply and to differentiate in vitro when incubated with growth factors. Four different peptide factors that induce differentiation of mature larval midgut cells have been isolated from conditioned medium in which Manduca sexta midgut cells have been grown and from the blood of Lymantria dispar. A protein isolated from pupal fat tissue is necessary to maintain stem cell mitosis in the presence of low titers of a steroid, the insect molting hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone; the crude fat body extract will disrupt midgut tissue and kill Spodoptera littoralis larvae in vivo. Mammalian growth factors epidermal growth factor, all trans retinoic acid and platelet-derived growth factor also induce stem cell differentiation, albeit to mature midgut cells characteristic of pupal and adult midgut tissue, as well as other epidermal structures. We previously showed that conditioned medium from cultures grown from pre-pupal or pupal midgut induced larva-derived midgut stem cells to differentiate to pre-pupal and pupal midgut types. Thus, the stem cells of Lepidopteran midgut are multipotent to epidermal fates. It has been shown that the interaction of factors and their receptors determine fate selection in stem cells from bone marrow and epidermis. We will show that calcium titers in the cells and external medium, as well as the receptor, integrin, have roles in fate regulation in insect midgut stem cells.