Drosophila Heartless acts with Heartbroken/Dof in muscle founder differentiation.
The formation of a multi-nucleate myofibre is directed, in Drosophila, by a founder cell. In the embryo, founders are selected by Notch-mediated lateral inhibition, while during adult myogenesis this mechanism of selection does not appear to operate. We show, in the muscles of the adult abdomen, that the Fibroblast growth factor pathway mediates founder cell choice in a novel manner. We suggest that the developmental patterns of Heartbroken/Dof and Sprouty result in defining the domain and timing of activation of the Fibroblast growth factor receptor Heartless in specific myoblasts, thereby converting them into founder cells. Our results point to a way in which muscle differentiation could be initiated and define a critical developmental function for Heartbroken/Dof in myogenesis.
Dutta
Devkanya
D
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India.
Shaw
Sanjeev
S
Maqbool
Tariq
T
Pandya
Hetal
H
Vijayraghavan
K
K
D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D019070:Cell Lineage; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D024510:Muscle Development; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D011679:Pupa / Q000378:metabolism; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor / Q000502:physiology*
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor; C115576:stumps protein, Drosophila; C110486:sty protein, Drosophila; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C102667:htl protein, Drosophila