Interactions between stem cells and their surrounding microenvironment, or niche, are critical for the establishment and maintenance of stem-cell properties¹. The adult Drosophila testis contains a morphologically discrete stem-cell niche, the 'hub'^{2, 3, 4}. The small cluster of non-dividing, somatic hub cells at the anterior tip of the fly testis is contacted by the germline stem cells (GSCs)⁵, which retain their stem-cell character through the direct association with the hub⁶. Here we show that integrin-mediated adhesion is important for maintaining the correct position of embryonic hub cells during gonad morphogenesis. The misplaced hub in integrin-deficient embryos directs the orientation of cell divisions in the presumptive GSCs, a hallmark of the active germline stem-cell niche. A decrease in integrin-mediated adhesion in adult testes, which resulted in a loss of the hub and the stem-cell population, revealed the importance of hub-cell anchoring. Finally, we show that an extracellular matrix (ECM) is present around the gonad during late embryogenesis and that this ECM is defective in integrin-deficient gonads. On the basis of our data, we propose that integrins are required for the attachment of the hub cells to the ECM, which is essential for maintaining the stem-cell niche.

1. The Gurdon Institute and Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK.
2. The Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3G5.
3. Present addresses: Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Life Science Center, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Science Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3 (G.T.); Laboratory of Mammalian Genetics and Development, Rockefeller University, Box 300, 1240 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA (D.D.).

Correspondence to: Guy Tanentzapf^1,2,3 e-mail: guy.tanentzapf@utoronto.ca

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