Intracellular calcium integrates complex signaling to control stem cell activity
Adult stem cells ensure continuous regeneration of tissues throughout our entire life. But the activity of these stem cells has to be carefully controlled in order to support regeneration without cancer. How this balanced control is achieved and maintained as the organism ages remains a critical question in stem cell biology. Publishing in Nature, researchers at the Buck Institute have identified a new mode of stem cell regulation. Working in the fly gut, senior scientist Heinrich Jasper, PhD, and colleagues show that stem cells adjust their proliferative activity in response to a wide variety of signals via intracellular calcium (Ca2+) signaling. Mechanisms that control the intracellular Ca2+ concentration and proteins that respond to intracellular Ca2+ changes thus emerge as master regulators of stem cell activity.