Cell-autonomous transformation of Lgr5-positive intestinal stem cells into gastric stem cells upon loss of transcription factor Cdx2

Stomach and intestinal adult epithelia harbor stem cells that are responsible for their continuous regeneration. Stomach and intestinal stem cells differ in their differentiation program and in the gene repertoire that they express. We show that single adult Lgr5-positive stem cells, isolated from 3D cultured small intestinal organoids, require Cdx2 to maintain their intestinal identity and are converted cell-autonomously into stomach-pyloric stem cells in the absence of this transcription factor.