The currently accepted intestinal epithelial cell organization model proposes that Lgr5^(+) crypt-base columnar (CBC) cells represent the sole intestinal stem cell (ISC) compartment. However, previous studies have indicated that Lgr5^(+) cells are dispensable for intestinal regeneration, leading to two major hypotheses: one favoring the presence of a quiescent reserve ISC and the other calling for differentiated cell plasticity. To investigate these possibilities, we studied crypt …