Tumor suppressor genes vital to regulating blood precursor cells
in fruit flies UCLA stem cell scientists have shown that two
common tumor suppressor genes, TSC and PTEN, are vital to
regulating the stem cell-like precursor cells that create the
blood supply in Drosophila, the common fruit fly. The
researchers examined a signaling pathway called TOR that the
cells use to gauge nutrition levels and stress, said study
senior author Dr. Julian A. Martinez-Agosto, an assistant
professor of human genetics and pediatrics and a researcher with
the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and
Stem Cell Research at UCLA. "We wondered how an organism knows
how many blood cells to make and when to make them in the
context of injury and repair to tissue. In particular, we
wondered how the blood progenitor cells sense that change and
know when it's time to make more blood cells," Martinez-Agosto
said. "We found that the TOR pathway uses these two genes to
regulate its function and, when activated, it expands o