Journal of Cell Science 116, e704-e704 (2003)
Copyright © 2003 The Company of Biologists Limited
Wing development in miniature
During Drosophila wing development, cytoskeletal rearrangements in
the epithelium produce a fourfold increase in surface area and generate
complex apical structures that support wing hairs. These occur as cuticle is
secreted, after the first cuticle layer — cuticulin — has been
laid down. Little is known about cuticulin deposition and how it affects the
cytoskeletal changes below. Fernando Roch and co-workers have therefore
examined the process in two fly mutants that have aberrant wing morphology:
dusky (dy) and miniature (min). They
observe that the two mutants secrete abnormal wing cuticle and exhibit
profound cytoskeletal and apical membrane defects in the wing epithelium (see
p. 1199). In addition, they
demonstrate that, in wild-type flies, the Min and Dy proteins, and a related
protein, Dusky-like, are expressed only in tissues that secrete cuticle.
Sequence comparisons reveal that all three are transmembrane proteins that
contain the zona pellucida (ZP) domain — a motif common in matrix
proteins and present in the nematode cuticle component CUT-1. Roch and
co-workers therefore conclude that these proteins form a subfamily of
ZP-domain cuticulin/matrix proteins that coordinate interactions between the
apical membrane and the cytoskeleton in the developing wing epithelium.
Related articles in JCS:
- Drosophila miniature and dusky encode ZP proteins required for cytoskeletal reorganisation during wing morphogenesis
- Fernando Roch, Claudio R. Alonso, and Michael Akam
JCS 2003 116: 1199-1207.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
