Oxidative Stress and Redox Imbalance: Common Mechanisms in Cancer Stem Cells and Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Oxidative stress (OS) is an established hallmark of cancer and neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs), which contributes to genomic instability and neuronal loss. This review explores the contrasting role of OS in cancer stem cells (CSCs) and NDDs. Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to genomic instability and promote tumor initiation and progression in CSCs, while in NDDs such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, OS accelerates neuronal death and impairs cellular repair mechanisms.

Notch Signaling: An Emerging Paradigm in the Pathogenesis of Reproductive Disorders and Diverse Pathological Conditions.

The highly conserved Notch pathway, a pillar of juxtacrine signaling, orchestrates intricate intercellular communication, governing diverse developmental and homeostatic processes through a tightly regulated cascade of proteolytic cleavages. This pathway, culminating in the migration of the Notch intracellular domain (NICD) to the nucleus and the subsequent activation of downstream target genes, exerts a profound influence on a plethora of molecular processes, including cell cycle progression, lineage specification, cell-cell adhesion, and fate determination. Accumulating evidence underscores the pivotal role of Notch dysregulation, encompassing both gain and loss-of-function mutations, in the pathogenesis of numerous human diseases.

Dual-Color Live Imaging of Adult Muscle Stem Cells in the Embryonic Tissues .

Adult muscle stem cells (MuSCs) show remarkable capability in repairing injured tissues. Studying MuSCs in suitable model organisms, which show strong homology with vertebrate counterparts, helps in dissecting the mechanisms regulating their behavior. Additionally, ease of handling and access to technological tools make model organisms well suited for studying biological processes that are conserved across species.

Glycosylation in SARS-CoV-2 variants: A path to infection and recovery.

Glycan is an essential molecule that controls and drives life in a precise direction. The paucity of research in glycobiology may impede the significance of its role in the pandemic guidelines. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is heavily glycosylated, with 22 putative N-glycosylation sites and 17 potential O-glycosylation sites discovered thus far.

Emerging roles of metazoan cell cycle regulators as coordinators of the cell cycle and differentiation.

In multicellular organisms, cell proliferation must be tightly coordinated with other developmental processes to form functional tissues and organs. Despite significant advances in our understanding of how the cell cycle is controlled by conserved cell-cycle regulators (CCRs), how the cell cycle is coordinated with cell differentiation in metazoan organisms and how CCRs contribute to this process remain poorly understood. Here, we review the emerging roles of metazoan CCRs as intracellular proliferation-differentiation coordinators in multicellular organisms.

Insulin-dependent Non-canonical Activation of Notch in Drosophila: A Story of Notch-Induced Muscle Stem Cell Proliferation.

Notch plays multiple roles both in development and in adult tissue homeostasis. Notch was first identified in Drosophila in which it has then been extensively studied. Among the flag-ship Notch functions we could mention its capacity to keep precursor and stem cells in a nondifferentiated state but also its ability to activate cell proliferation that in some contexts could led to cancer.

miRNA suppression of a Notch repressor directs non-neuronal fate in mechanosensory organs.

Although there is abundant evidence that individual microRNA (miRNA) loci repress large cohorts of targets, large-scale knockout studies suggest that most miRNAs are phenotypically dispensable. Here, we identify a rare case of developmental cell specification that is highly dependent on miRNA control of an individual target. We observe that binary cell fate choice in the peripheral sensory organ lineage is controlled by the non-neuronally expressed cluster, with a majority of notum sensory organs exhibiting transformation of sheath cells into ectopic neurons.

TRAP-rc, Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification from Rare Cell Populations of Drosophila Embryos.

Measuring levels of mRNAs in the process of translation in individual cells provides information on the proteins involved in cellular functions at a given point in time. The protocol dubbed Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP) is able to capture this mRNA translation process in a cell-type-specific manner. Based on the affinity purification of polysomes carrying a tagged ribosomal subunit, TRAP can be applied to translatome analyses in individual cells, making it possible to compare cell types during the course of developmental processes or to track disease development progress and the impact of potential therapies at molecular level.

Specification and behavior of AMPs, muscle-committed transient Drosophila stem cells.

During development, transient stem cells play critical roles in the formation of specific tissues. Adult Muscle Precursors (AMPs) are at the origin of all adult Drosophila muscles and as we report here represent a novel population of muscle-committed transient stem cells. Similar to vertebrate muscle stem cells, AMPs keep Notch signaling active and express Enhancer of split m6 (E(spl)m6) gene, a read-out of Notch pathway.

Drosophila adult muscle precursors form a network of interconnected cells and are specified by the rhomboid-triggered EGF pathway.

In Drosophila, a population of muscle-committed stem-like cells called adult muscle precursors (AMPs) keeps an undifferentiated and quiescent state during embryonic life. The embryonic AMPs are at the origin of all adult fly muscles and, as we demonstrate here, they express repressors of myogenic differentiation and targets of the Notch pathway known to be involved in muscle cell stemness. By targeting GFP to the AMP cell membranes, we show that AMPs are tightly associated with the peripheral nervous system and with a subset of differentiated muscles.

Macromolecular uptake in Drosophila pericardial cells requires rudhira function.

The vertebrate reticuloendothelial system (RES) functions to remove potentially damaging macromolecules, such as excess hormones, immune-peptides and -complexes, bacterial-endotoxins, microorganisms and tumor cells. Insect hemocytes and nephrocytes - which include pericardial cells (PCs) and garland cells - are thought to be functionally equivalent to the RES. Although the ability of both vertebrate scavenger endothelial cells (SECs) and PCs to sequester colloidal and soluble macromolecules has been demonstrated the molecular mechanism of this function remains to be investigated.

Gene expression analysis in post-embryonic pericardial cells of Drosophila.

Increasing evidence suggests conservation of cardiovascular molecules between vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrate Rudhira, an evolutionary conserved WD40 protein is expressed during primitive erythropoiesis, neoangiogenesis and tumors. We report here the expression profile of the Drosophila ortholog of Rudhira (DRudh) in the fly life cycle.

Post-embryonic pericardial cells of Drosophila are required for overcoming toxic stress but not for cardiac function or adult development.

The Drosophila heart is composed of two cell types: cardioblasts (CB) and pericardial cells (PC). Whereas CBs act to maintain rhythmic contractions, the functions of accessory PCs are not clear. The close association between these two cell types has led to speculation of a cardio-regulatory role for PCs.