JAK/STAT signaling is required for hinge growth and patterning in the Drosophila wing disc

Aidee Ayala-Camargo, Abigail M Anderson, Marc Amoyel, Aloma B Rodrigues, Maria Sol Flaherty, Erika A Bach

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

JAK/STAT signaling is localized to the wing hinge, but its function there is not known. Here we show that the Drosophila STAT Stat92E is downstream of Homothorax and is required for hinge development by cell-autonomously regulating hinge-specific factors. Within the hinge, Stat92E activity becomes restricted to gap domain cells that lack Nubbin and Teashirt. While gap domain cells lacking Stat92E have significantly reduced proliferation, increased JAK/STAT signaling there does not expand this domain. Thus, this pathway is necessary but not sufficient for gap domain growth. We show that reduced Wingless (Wg) signaling dominantly inhibits Stat92E activity in the hinge. However, ectopic JAK/STAT signaling does not perturb Wg expression in the hinge. We report negative interactions between Stat92E and the notum factor Araucan, resulting in restriction of JAK/STAT signaling from the notum. In addition, we find that the distal factor Nub represses the ligand unpaired as well as Stat92E activity. These data suggest that distal expansion of JAK/STAT signaling is deleterious to wing blade development. Indeed, mis-expression of Unpaired within the presumptive wing blade causes small, stunted adult wings. We conclude that JAK/STAT signaling is critical for hinge fate specification and growth of the gap domain and that its restriction to the hinge is required for proper wing development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)413-26
Number of pages14
JournalDevelopmental Biology
Volume382
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Oct 2013

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Body Patterning
  • Drosophila
  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Homeodomain Proteins
  • Janus Kinases
  • POU Domain Factors
  • STAT Transcription Factors
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transcription Factors
  • Wings, Animal

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