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Intestinal stem cells are multipotent adult stem cells, which in mammals reside in the base of the crypts of the adult intestine. Intestinal stem cells continuously self-renew by dividing and differentiate into the specialised cells of the intestinal epithelium, which renews throughout life.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is featured with epithelial barrier dysfunction, however, the underlying mechanism is less clear. Here, the authors show that DHX9 deficiency in intestinal stem cells (ISCs) induces accumulation of abnormal R-loops and subsequent genomic instability, leading to impairment of ISCs and development of IBD.
The mechanisms underlying cell plasticity remain poorly understood. Here, Guo et.al discover that intestinal cells in the fly gut can alter their fates through the loss of a single gene, and identify several molecular barriers to cell reprogramming.
A deep learning model—OrgaSegment—is presented for segmentation of individual intestinal patient-derived organoid structures from bright-field images. This enables quantification of organoid swelling and discrimination between organoids with different levels CFTR function and response to therapy.
Intestinal physiology requires a balance between stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Here, the authors show that this balance is regulated epigenetically by a dynamic relationship between the evolutionarily conserved PRC2, miR-8 and Notch signaling.
McCarthy et al. identify distinct populations of smooth muscle cells in the intestine that support the establishment of the intestinal stem cell niche during postnatal development by supplying trophic signals to enable niche expansion.
