(A) Schematic of the adult hermaphrodite distal germline. The distal end of the germline is capped by a somatic distal tip cell (DTC). Progenitor zone cells are shown in green; meiotic prophase cells are in red. Dashed line indicates the progenitor zone–meiotic prophase boundary, the operationally defined point of meiotic entry [4]. GLP-1 signaling maintains germline stem cell fate and GLP-1 mediated transcription occurs in the distal most ~5 cell diameters (cd) of the germline [21,42]. LST-1 and SYGL-1 protein are observed in the distal most 5 or 10 cell diameters, respectively [22]. (B) Genetic pathway controlling the stem cell fate vs meiotic development decision in the distal end of C. elegans germline. GLP-1 signaling acts, at least in part, through transcriptional targets lst-1 and sygl-1 to repress the GLD-1, GLD-2 and SCFPROM-1 meiotic entry pathways (reviewed in [4]). GLP-1(ICD), GLP-1 intracellular domain.