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First published online April 22, 2009

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Taking shape via Dpp signalling

The wing imaginal discs of Drosophila melanogaster are an ideal model system in which to study how shape changes in individual cells contribute to epithelial morphogenesis. During development, the cells of the wing disc epithelium change from cuboidal to columnar in shape, although the signalling pathways that underlie this transition had not been characterised. On page 1362, Thomas Widmann and Christian Dahmann use this system to show that decapentaplegic (Dpp) signalling promotes changes in cell shape by regulating the downstream mediators Rho1 and myosin II. Their data indicate that disabling Dpp signalling in the epithelium causes abnormal wing development, and that this pathway is required in a cell-autonomous manner to maintain an elongated columnar cell shape. More specifically, Dpp signalling is required to maintain the microtubule network and a high level of Rho1 and myosin II activity at the apicolateral side of cells in the developing wing disc. Furthermore, Rho1 is found to have profound effects on apical-basal cell length by regulating the activity of myosin II. So, the authors conclude that the compartmentalisation and/or regulation of Rho1 activity by Dpp signalling is required to instruct proper columnal cell shape in the developing epithelium.

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Related articles in JCS:

Dpp signaling promotes the cuboidal-to-columnar shape transition of Drosophila wing disc epithelia by regulating Rho1

Thomas J. Widmann and Christian Dahmann
JCS 2009 122: 1362-1373. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?