The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a model organism by biologists for over 100 years. Advantages of this model include the short life cycle of the flies and their capacity to be housed and bred at very low cost in the lab. Combined with the relative simplicity of their genome and molecular biology compared to mammalian models, these advantages have made flies an excellent model for genetic studies. In stem cell research, numerous studies have been conducted by using the Drosophila germline as a model system to understand the mechanisms of stem cell biology.

Based on recent research conducted on the Drosophila stem cell niche, several important features have been distinguished that control stem cell behavior. These features include: signals that are released ...