scholarly journals The role of integrins in Drosophila egg chamber morphogenesis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly E. Lovegrove ◽  
Dan T. Bergstralh ◽  
Daniel St Johnston

AbstractA Drosophila egg chamber is comprised of a germline cyst surrounded by a tightly-organised epithelial monolayer, the follicular epithelium (FE). Loss of integrin function from the FE disrupts epithelial organisation at egg chamber termini, but the cause of this phenotype remains unclear. Here we show that the β-integrin Myospheroid (Mys) is only required during early oogenesis when the pre-follicle cells form the FE. mys mutants disrupt both the formation of a monolayered epithelium at egg chamber termini and the morphogenesis of the stalk between adjacent egg chambers, which develops through the intercalation of two rows of cells into a single-cell wide stalk. Secondary epithelia, like the FE, have been proposed to require adhesion to the basement membrane to polarise. However, Mys is not required for pre-follicle cell polarisation, as both follicle and stalk cells localise polarity factors correctly, despite being mispositioned. Instead, loss of integrins causes pre-follicle cells to basally constrict, detach from the basement membrane and become internalised. Thus, integrin function is dispensable for pre-follicle cell polarity but is required to maintain cellular organisation and cell shape during morphogenesis.

Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (19) ◽  
pp. 3871-3880 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Queenan ◽  
A. Ghabrial ◽  
T. Schupbach

The Drosophila gene torpedo/Egfr (top/Egfr) encodes a homolog of the vertebrate Epidermal Growth Factor receptor. This receptor is required several times during the life cycle of the fly for the transmisson of developmental cues. During oogenesis, Top/Egfr activation is required for the establishment of the dorsal/ventral axis of the egg and the embryo. To examine how ectopic Top/Egfr activation affects cell fate determination, we constructed an activated version of the protein. Expression of this activated form (lambda top) in the follicle cells of the ovary induces dorsal cell fates in both the follicular epithelium and the embryo. Different levels of expression resulted in different dorsal follicle cell fates. These dorsal cell fates were expanded in the anterior, but not the posterior, of the egg, even in cases where all the follicle cells covering the oocyte expressed lambda top. The expression of genes known to respond to top/Egfr activation, argos (aos), kekkon1 (kek 1) and rhomboid (rho), was also expanded in the presence of the lambda top construct. When lambda top was expressed in all the follicle cells covering the oocyte, kek 1 and argos expression was induced in follicle cells all along the anterior/posterior axis of the egg chamber. In contrast, rho RNA expression was only activated in the anterior of the egg chamber. These data indicate that the response to Top/Egfr signaling is regulated by an anterior/posterior prepattern in the follicle cells. Expression of lambda top in the entire follicular epithelium resulted in an embryo dorsalized along the entire anterior/posterior axis. Expression of lambda top in anterior or posterior subpopulations of follicle cells resulted in regionally autonomous dorsalization of the embryos. This result indicates that subpopulations of follicle cells along the anterior/posterior axis can respond to Top/Egfr activation independently of one another.


Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (10) ◽  
pp. 2165-2176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zhang ◽  
D. Kalderon

The localized expression of Hedgehog (Hh) at the extreme anterior of Drosophila ovarioles suggests that it might provide an asymmetric cue that patterns developing egg chambers along the anteroposterior axis. Ectopic or excessive Hh signaling disrupts egg chamber patterning dramatically through primary effects at two developmental stages. First, excess Hh signaling in somatic stem cells stimulates somatic cell over-proliferation. This likely disrupts the earliest interactions between somatic and germline cells and may account for the frequent mis-positioning of oocytes within egg chambers. Second, the initiation of the developmental programs of follicle cell lineages appears to be delayed by ectopic Hh signaling. This may account for the formation of ectopic polar cells, the extended proliferation of follicle cells and the defective differentiation of posterior follicle cells, which, in turn, disrupts polarity within the oocyte. Somatic cells in the ovary cannot proliferate normally in the absence of Hh or Smoothened activity. Loss of protein kinase A activity restores the proliferation of somatic cells in the absence of Hh activity and allows the formation of normally patterned ovarioles. Hence, localized Hh is not essential to direct egg chamber patterning.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (9) ◽  
pp. 2209-2222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. James ◽  
Jennie B. Dorman ◽  
Celeste A. Berg

In Drosophila melanogaster, the Ras signal transduction pathway is the primary effector of receptor tyrosine kinases, which govern diverse developmental programs. During oogenesis, epidermal growth factor receptor signaling through the Ras pathway patterns the somatic follicular epithelium, establishing the dorsoventral asymmetry of eggshell and embryo. Analysis of follicle cell clones homozygous for a null allele of Ras demonstrates that Ras is required cell-autonomously to repress pipe transcription, the critical first step in embryonic dorsoventral patterning. The effects of aberrant pipe expression in Ras mosaic egg chambers can be ameliorated, however, by post-pipe patterning events, which salvage normal dorsoventral polarity in most embryos derived from egg chambers with dorsal Ras clones. The patterned follicular epithelium also determines the final shape of the eggshell, including the dorsal respiratory appendages, which are formed by the migration of two dorsolateral follicle cell populations. Confocal analyses of mosaic egg chambers demonstrate that Ras is required both cell- and non cell-autonomously for morphogenetic behaviors characteristic of dorsal follicle cell migration, and reveal a novel, Ras-dependent pattern of basal E-cadherin localization in dorsal midline follicle cells.


1999 ◽  
Vol 146 (5) ◽  
pp. 1075-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela C. Zarnescu ◽  
Graham H. Thomas

Changes in cell shape and position drive morphogenesis in epithelia and depend on the polarized nature of its constituent cells. The spectrin-based membrane skeleton is thought to be a key player in the establishment and/or maintenance of cell shape and polarity. We report that apical βHeavy-spectrin (βH), a terminal web protein that is also associated with the zonula adherens, is essential for normal epithelial morphogenesis of the Drosophila follicle cell epithelium during oogenesis. Elimination of βH by the karst mutation prevents apical constriction of the follicle cells during mid-oogenesis, and is accompanied by a gross breakup of the zonula adherens. We also report that the integrity of the migratory border cell cluster, a group of anterior follicle cells that delaminates from the follicle epithelium, is disrupted. Elimination of βH prevents the stable recruitment of α-spectrin to the apical domain, but does not result in a loss of apicobasal polarity, as would be predicted from current models describing the role of spectrin in the establishment of cell polarity. These results demonstrate a direct role for apical (αβH)2-spectrin in epithelial morphogenesis driven by apical contraction, and suggest that apical and basolateral spectrin do not play identical roles in the generation of apicobasal polarity.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 2965-2975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Peri ◽  
Martin Technau ◽  
Siegfried Roth

The restriction of Pipe, a potential glycosaminoglycan-modifying enzyme, to ventral follicle cells of the egg chamber is essential for dorsoventral axis formation in the Drosophila embryo. pipe repression depends on the TGFα-like ligand Gurken, which activates the Drosophila EGF receptor in dorsal follicle cells. An analysis of Raf mutant clones shows that EGF signalling is required cell-autonomously in all dorsal follicle cells along the anteroposterior axis of the egg chamber to repress pipe. However, the autoactivation of EGF signalling important for dorsal follicle cell patterning has no influence on pipe expression. Clonal analysis shows that also the mirror-fringe cassette suggested to establish a secondary signalling centre in the follicular epithelium is not involved in pipe regulation. These findings support the view that the pipe domain is directly delimited by a long-range Gurken gradient. Pipe induces ventral cell fates in the embryo via activation of the Spätzle/Toll pathway. However, large dorsal patches of ectopic pipe expression induced by Raf clones rarely affect embryonic patterning if they are separated from the endogenous pipe domain. This indicates that potent inhibitory processes prevent pipe dependent Toll activation at the dorsal side of the egg.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (7) ◽  
pp. 826-831 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. T. Ilenchuk ◽  
K. G. Davey

A comparison has been made of the effects of juvenile hormone (JH) on the binding characteristics for ouabain of microsomes prepared from brain and from cells of the follicular epithelium surrounding previtellogenic or vitellogenic oocytes in Rhodnius. JH has no effect on the binding of ouabain to brain microsomes and decreases the Kd, but does not alter the Bmax for previtellogenic follicle cells. For vitellogenic follicle cells, Scatchard analysis reveals a curvilinear relationship, which is interpreted as indicating that a new population of JH-sensitive ouabain-binding sites develops as the follicle cell enters vitellogenesis. These results are related to earlier data obtained on the effect of JH on ATPase activity, volume changes in isolated follicle cells, and the development of spaces between the cells of the follicular epithelium.


Development ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 122 (7) ◽  
pp. 2283-2294 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Manfruelli ◽  
N. Arquier ◽  
W.P. Hanratty ◽  
M. Semeriva

Inactivation of the lethal(2)giant larvae (l(2)gl) gene results in malignant transformation of imaginal disc cells and neuroblasts of the larval brain in Drosophila. Subcellular localization of the l(2)gl gene product, P127, and its biochemical characterization have indicated that it participates in the formation of the cytoskeletal network. In this paper, genetic and phenotypic analyses of a temperature-sensitive mutation (l(2)glts3) that behaves as a hypomorphic allele at restrictive temperature are presented. In experimentally overaged larvae obtained by using mutants in the production of ecdysone, the l(2)glts3 mutation displays a tumorous potential. This temperature-sensitive allele of the l(2)gl gene has been used to describe the primary function of the gene before tumor progression. A reduced contribution of both maternal and zygotic activities in l(2)glts3 homozygous mutant embryos blocks embryogenesis at the end of germ-band retraction. The mutant embryos are consequently affected in dorsal closure and head involution and show a hypertrophy of the midgut. These phenotypes are accompanied by an arrest of the cell shape changes normally occurring in lateral epidermis and in epithelial midgut cells. l(2)gl activity is also necessary for larval fife and the critical period falls within the third instar larval stage. Finally, l(2)gl activity is required during oogenesis and mutations in the gene disorganize egg chambers and cause abnormalities in the shape of follicle cells, which are eventually internalized within the egg chamber. These results together with the tumoral phenotype of epithelial imaginal disc cells strongly suggest that the l(2)gl product is required in vivo in different types of epithelial cells to control their shape during development.


Development ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 125 (15) ◽  
pp. 2837-2846 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gonzalez-Reyes ◽  
D. St Johnston

Gurken signals from the oocyte to the adjacent follicle cells twice during Drosophila oogenesis; first to induce posterior fate, thereby polarising the anterior-posterior axis of the future embryo and then to induce dorsal fate and polarise the dorsal-ventral axis. Here we show that Gurken induces two different follicle cell fates because the follicle cells at the termini of the egg chamber differ in their competence to respond to Gurken from the main-body follicle cells in between. By removing the putative Gurken receptor, Egfr, in clones of cells, we show that Gurken signals directly to induce posterior fate in about 200 cells, defining a terminal competence domain that extends 10–11 cell diameters from the pole. Furthermore, small clones of Egfr mutant cells at the posterior interpret their position with respect to the pole and differentiate as the appropriate anterior cell type. Thus, the two terminal follicle cell populations contain a symmetric prepattern that is independent of Gurken signalling. These results suggest a three-step model for the anterior-posterior patterning of the follicular epithelium that subdivides this axis into at least five distinct cell types. Finally, we show that Notch plays a role in both the specification and patterning of the terminal follicle cells, providing a possible explanation for the defect in anterior-posterior axis formation caused by Notch and Delta mutants.


Development ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 128 (22) ◽  
pp. 4553-4562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah J. Goff ◽  
Laura A. Nilson ◽  
Donald Morisato

The dorsal-ventral pattern of the Drosophila egg is established during oogenesis. Epidermal growth factor receptor (Egfr) signaling within the follicular epithelium is spatially regulated by the dorsally restricted distribution of its presumptive ligand, Gurken. As a consequence, pipe is transcribed in a broad ventral domain to initiate the Toll signaling pathway in the embryo, resulting in a gradient of Dorsal nuclear translocation. We show that expression of pipe RNA requires the action of fettucine (fet) in ovarian follicle cells. Loss of maternal fet activity produces a dorsalized eggshell and embryo. Although similar mutant phenotypes are observed with regulators of Egfr signaling, genetic analysis suggests that fet acts downstream of this event. The fet mutant phenotype is rescued by a transgene of capicua (cic), which encodes an HMG-box transcription factor. We show that Cic protein is initially expressed uniformly in ovarian follicle cell nuclei, and is subsequently downregulated on the dorsal side. Earlier studies described a requirement for cic in repressing zygotic target genes of both the torso and Toll pathways in the embryo. Our experiments reveal that cic controls dorsal-ventral patterning by regulating pipe expression in ovarian follicle cells, before its previously described role in interpreting the Dorsal gradient.


Author(s):  
Sifang Liao ◽  
Dick R. Nässel

AbstractIn Drosophila eight insulin-like peptides (DILP1-8) are encoded on separate genes. These DILPs are characterized by unique spatial and temporal expression patterns during the lifecycle. Whereas functions of several of the DILPs have been extensively investigated at different developmental stages, the role of DILP8 signaling is primarily known from larvae and pupae where it couples organ growth and developmental transitions. In adult female flies, a study showed that a specific set of neurons that express the DILP8 receptor, Lgr3, is involved in regulation of reproductive behavior. Here, we further investigated the expression of dilp8/DILP8 and Lgr3 in adult female flies and the functional role of DILP8 signaling. The only site where we found both dilp8 expression and DILP8 immunolabeling was in follicle cells of mature ovaries. Lgr3 expression was detected in numerous neurons in the brain and ventral nerve cord, a small set of peripheral neurons innervating the abdominal heart, as well as in a set of follicle cells close to the oviduct. Ovulation was affected in dilp8 mutants as well as after dilp8-RNAi using dilp8 and follicle cell Gal4 drivers. More eggs were retained in the ovaries and fewer were laid, indicating that DILP8 is important for ovulation. Our data suggest that DILP8 signals locally to Lgr3 expressing follicle cells as well as systemically to Lgr3 expressing efferent neurons in abdominal ganglia that innervate oviduct muscle. Thus, DILP8 may act at two targets to regulate ovulation: follicle cell rupture and oviduct contractions. Furthermore, we could show that manipulations of dilp8 expression affect food intake and starvation resistance. Possibly this reflects a feedback signaling between ovaries and the CNS that ensures nutrients for ovary development. In summary, it seems that DILP8 signaling in regulation of reproduction is an ancient function, conserved in relaxin signaling in mammals.


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