Identifying novel roles for basement membrane-associated proteins in the adult Drosophila intestinal epithelium
type: CreativeWork
description: Maintenance of a healthy epithelium relies on the functionality of resident stem and progenitor cells, which must divide and differentiate in a way that precisely meets tissue requirements. To achieve this, cells integrate an array of information, including chemical, mechanical and adhesion-based cues, which collectively provide the instructions to direct cellular behaviour. A potential source of such signals is the basement membrane, a thin extracellular matrix which underlines the basal side of all epithelia, and to which epithelial cells adhere via various receptors. Despite their ubiquity, basement membranes are understudied and there remains much to understand regarding how their components and receptors impact epithelia. Using the adult *Drosophila* midgut as a model system to investigate epithelial stem and progenitor cell behaviour *in vivo*, I searched for novel roles for basement membrane associated proteins in the intestinal epithelium. Integrins are major receptors used by cells to bind the extracellular matrix, and they recruit a number of intracellular proteins including the conserved mechanoeffector Vinculin. I contributed to a project investigating the role of Vinculin in the intestinal epithelium, where *vinculin* mutants show increased intestinal stem cell proliferation and accelerated progenitor cell differentiation. I used scanning electron and confocal microscopy to confirm that *vinculin* mutant midguts have elevated cell numbers and developed a workflow for quantifying proliferation and differentiation. Using transmission electron microscopy, I showed that *vinculin* mutant midguts do not have an abnormal basement membrane. This corroborated other observations which suggest that, in the context of intestinal cell production and differentiation, Vinculin functions at cadherin cell-cell junctions, not at Integrin cell-matrix adhesions, specifically in enteroblast progenitors. Here, Vinculin is required to keep the progenitor in a quiescent state…
abstract: Maintenance of a healthy epithelium relies on the functionality of resident stem and progenitor cells, which must divide and differentiate in a way that precisely meets tissue requirements. To achieve this, cells integrate an array of information, including chemical, mechanical and adhesion-based cues, which collectively provide the instructions to direct cellular behaviour. A potential source of such signals is the basement membrane, a thin extracellular matrix which underlines the basal side of all epithelia, and to which epithelial cells adhere via various receptors. Despite their ubiquity, basement membranes are understudied and there remains much to understand regarding how their components and receptors impact epithelia. Using the adult *Drosophila* midgut as a model system to investigate epithelial stem and progenitor cell behaviour *in vivo*, I searched for novel roles for basement membrane associated proteins in the intestinal epithelium. Integrins are major receptors used by cells to bind the extracellular matrix, and they recruit a number of intracellular proteins including the conserved mechanoeffector Vinculin. I contributed to a project investigating the role of Vinculin in the intestinal epithelium, where *vinculin* mutants show increased intestinal stem cell proliferation and accelerated progenitor cell differentiation. I used scanning electron and confocal microscopy to confirm that *vinculin* mutant midguts have elevated cell numbers and developed a workflow for quantifying proliferation and differentiation. Using transmission electron microscopy, I showed that *vinculin* mutant midguts do not have an abnormal basement membrane. This corroborated other observations which suggest that, in the context of intestinal cell production and differentiation, Vinculin functions at cadherin cell-cell junctions, not at Integrin cell-matrix adhesions, specifically in enteroblast progenitors. Here, Vinculin is required to keep the progenitor in a quiescent state…
author: Eldridge-Thomas, Buffy
language: eng
keywords: Basement membrane, Cell division, Drosophila, Intestinal stem cell, Nuclear lamina, Nuclear shape
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/c5b8699c-b0dd-440a-8d30-2d6183fc73b1/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2023-11-13
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:25Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.106408