title: The Drosophila actin regulator ENABLED regulates cell shape and orientation during gonad morphogenesis.
abstract: Organs develop distinctive morphologies to fulfill their unique functions. We used Drosophila embryonic gonads as a model to study how two different cell lineages, primordial germ cells (PGCs) and somatic gonadal precursors (SGPs), combine to form one organ. We developed a membrane GFP marker to image SGP behaviors live. These studies show that a combination of SGP cell shape changes and inward movement of anterior and posterior SGPs leads to the compaction of the spherical gonad. This process is disrupted in mutants of the actin regulator, enabled (ena). We show that Ena coordinates these cell shape changes and the inward movement of the SGPs, and Ena affects the intracellular localization of DE-cadherin (DE-cad). Mathematical simulation based on these observations suggests that changes in DE-cad localization can generate the forces needed to compact an elongated structure into a sphere. We propose that Ena regulates force balance in the SGPs by sequestering DE-cad, leading to the morphogenetic movement required for gonad compaction.
authors.affiliation: HHMI and Developmental Genetics Program, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, New York University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America. sano_hiroko@kurume-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: Prabhat S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Kunwar
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Renault
authors.forename: Vitor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Ivan B N
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimura
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lehmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D048430:Cell Shape; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D005260:Female; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006066:Gonads / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009024:Morphogenesis; D038081:Organogenesis; D021381:Protein Transport; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D059008:Time-Lapse Imaging
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C092744:ENA-VASP proteins; C501889:shg protein, Drosophila