RNA interference experiments in Drosophila suggested that the fly homologue of FLCN regulates male germline stem cell maintenance, downstream of or in parallel to the janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling pathways (Singh et al., 2006). BMP (and its Drosophila homologue) are members of the TGF-β superfamily of proteins, and FLCN’s effects on TGF-β signalling can be found in more detail here.
