PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Manashree Malpe
AU  - Cordula Schulz
TI  - The impact of genetic background and gender on the increase in mitotic index in response to mating of <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>
AID  - 10.1101/2020.05.15.098509
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.05.15.098509
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/16/2020.05.15.098509.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/16/2020.05.15.098509.full
AB  - The replenishment of specialized cells depends on the activity of stem cells. Recent advances in stem cell research have shown that the germline stem cells (GSCs) in Drosophila melanogaster can increase their mitotic activity in response to mating. Here, we show that this ability to respond to mating is eliminated if the males are mutant for the ABC transporter, White, the genetic background for a plethora of fly lines. Furthermore, we were not able to reproduce previous findings that female flies increase their GSC numbers and mitotic activity upon mating. Our findings underline the importance of careful experimental design and control specimen.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.