{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T11:19:31Z","timestamp":1785410371526,"version":"3.56.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,16]]},"group-title":"Cell Biology","reference-count":52,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,16]],"date-time":"2025-06-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1750032000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["R01AG065672"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01AG065672"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"New York State Department of Health, NYSTEM","award":["01-C32560GG-3450000"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01-C32560GG-3450000"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  Declines in tissue renewal and repair due to alterations in tissue stem cells is a hallmark of aging. Many stem cell pools are maintained morphologically complex niches. Using the\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  hermaphrodite germline stem cell system, we analyzed age-related changes in the morphology of the niche, the distal tip cell (DTC), and identified a molecular mechanism that promotes a subset of these changes. We found decreases in the number and length of long DTC processes with age. We also found that a long-lived\n                  <jats:italic>daf-2<\/jats:italic>\n                  mutant exhibits a\n                  <jats:italic>daf-16<\/jats:italic>\n                  -dependent maintenance of long DTC processes. Surprisingly, the tissue requirement for\n                  <jats:italic>daf-16(+)<\/jats:italic>\n                  is non-autonomous, and\n                  <jats:italic>daf-16(+)<\/jats:italic>\n                  in body wall muscle is both necessary and sufficient. In addition, after a delay, pre-formed DTC processes deteriorate upon premature germline differentiation, but not upon cell cycle inhibition. We propose a reciprocal DTC-germline interaction model and speculate how reduced\n                  <jats:italic>daf-2<\/jats:italic>\n                  activity both delays stem cell exhaustion and maintains DTC processes. These studies establish the\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  DTC as a powerful\n                  <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                  model for understanding age-related changes in cellular morphology and their consequences in stem cell systems.\n                <\/jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>SUMMARY<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    The\n                    <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                    germline stem cell niche morphology is markedly altered with age and is regulated non-autonomously from the muscle by insulin\/IGF-like signaling. Results suggest reciprocal niche-germline regulation.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.06.13.658151","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,16]],"date-time":"2025-06-16T19:55:12Z","timestamp":1750103712000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Non-autonomy of age-related morphological changes in the\n                  <i>C. elegans<\/i>\n                  germline stem cell niche"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-1865-1569","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nilay","family":"Gupta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department Biology, New York University"},{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-6065-1376","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mia","family":"Sinks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5893-7232","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"E. Jane Albert","family":"Hubbard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026041203440599000_2025.06.13.658151v2.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0092-8674(87)90128-0"},{"key":"2026041203440599000_2025.06.13.658151v2.2","first-page":"755","article-title":"Characterization of a germ-line proliferation mutation in C. elegans. 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