title: Identification and characterization of a novel line of Drosophila Schneider S2 cells that respond to wingless signaling.
abstract: Wingless (Wg) treatment of Drosophila wing disc clone 8 cells leads to Armadillo (Arm) protein elevation, and this effect has been used as the basis of in vitro assays for Wg protein. Previously analyzed stocks of Drosophila Schneider S2 cells could not respond to added Wg, because they lack the Wg receptor, Dfrizzled-2. However, we found that a line of S2 cells obtained from another source express Dfrizzled-2 and Dfrizzled-1. Thus, we designated this cell line as S2R+ (S2 receptor plus). S2R+ cells respond to addition of extracellular Wg by elevating Arm and DE-cadherin protein levels and by hyperphosphorylating Dsh, just as clone 8 cells do. Moreover, overexpression of Wg in S2R+, but not in S2 cells, induced the same changes in Dsh, Arm, and DE-cadherin proteins as induced in clone 8 cells, indicating that these events are common effects of Wg signaling, which occurs in cells expressing functional Wg receptors. In addition, unphosphorylated Dsh protein in S2 cells was phosphorylated as a consequence of expression of Dfrizzled-2 or mouse Frizzled-6, suggesting that basal structures common to various frizzled family proteins trigger this phosphorylation of Dsh. S2R+ cells are as sensitive to Wg as are clone 8 cells but can grow in simpler medium. Therefore, the S2R+ cell line is likely to prove highly useful for in vitro analyses of Wg signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Viral Oncology, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. syanagaw@virus1.virus.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yanagawa
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishimoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D002460:Cell Line; D002999:Clone Cells; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014162:Transfection; D051155:Wnt1 Protein
chemical_list: C495305:ARM protein, Drosophila; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; C111048:Fzd6 protein, mouse; D019476:Insect Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C101703:fz2 protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila