Stemming Stem Cells

Stem cells are essential for complex life. These immortal cells – found in embryos and adults – keep on dividing long after other cells have stopped, making more of themselves and generating specialised cells that make up the tissues of the body. But while it’s vital that stem cells can keep on multiplying, it’s also important that they don’t grow out of control and become a cancerous tumour. To find out how stem cells maintain this precarious balance, researchers are studying these snake-like sex organs (gonads) in tiny nematode worms called C. elegans. The brightly coloured patches are two proteins – SYGL-1 (pink) and LST-1 (orange) – which help stem cells maintain their immortal character. By limiting the area in which these proteins are active, the worms ensure that the pool of stem cells stays small. Maybe similar mechanisms are at work in our own bodies to keep our unruly stem cells in check?

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

Website

• Image by H. Shin and K. Haupt
• Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Genetics, December 2017