Intestinal Stem Cell Replacement Follows a Pattern of Neutral Drift

Abstract

Gut Stem Cell Replacement: Gut cell turnover is characteristically rapid and relies on stem cells in the crypts that lie between the intestinal villi. The prevailing view is that stem cell division is asymmetric with one daughter retaining a stem cell character; however, this pattern of stem cell turnover does not always apply. Using long-term lineage tracing, Lopez-Garcia et al. (p. 822 , published online 23 September) showed that the loss of a stem cell was compensated for by the multiplication of a neighboring cell. The rate of stem-cell loss was found to be equivalent to the rate of cell division, indicating that symmetric cell division was the rule for gut stem cells and implying stochastic expansion, contraction, and extinction of clones occurs.