Cluster Assembly Dynamics Drive Fidelity of Planar Cell Polarity Polarization.

The planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway polarizes epithelial cells in the tissue plane by segregating distinct molecular subcomplexes to opposite sides of each cell, where they interact across intercellular junctions to form asymmetric clusters. The role of clustering in this process is unknown. We hypothesized that protein cluster size distributions could be used to infer the underlying molecular dynamics and function of cluster assembly and polarization.

Automated counting of Drosophila imaginal disc cell nuclei.

Automated image quantification workflows have dramatically improved over the past decade, enriching image analysis and enhancing the ability to achieve statistical power. These analyses have proved especially useful for studies in organisms such as Drosophila melanogaster, where it is relatively simple to obtain high sample numbers for downstream analyses. However, the developing wing, an intensively utilized structure in developmental biology, has eluded efficient cell counting workflows due to its highly dense cellular population.

Protein phosphatase 1 regulates core PCP signaling.

Planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling polarizes epithelial cells within the plane of an epithelium. Core PCP signaling components adopt asymmetric subcellular localizations within cells to both polarize and coordinate polarity between cells. Achieving subcellular asymmetry requires additional effectors, including some mediating post-translational modifications of core components.

Flamingo participates in multiple models of cell competition.

The growth and survival of cells with different fitness, such as those with a proliferative advantage or a deleterious mutation, is controlled through cell competition. During development, cell competition enables healthy cells to eliminate less fit cells that could jeopardize tissue integrity, and facilitates the elimination of pre-malignant cells by healthy cells as a surveillance mechanism to prevent oncogenesis. Malignant cells also benefit from cell competition to promote their expansion.

Protein phosphatase 1 regulates core PCP signaling.

PCP signaling polarizes epithelial cells within the plane of an epithelium. Core PCP signaling components adopt asymmetric subcellular localizations within cells to both polarize and coordinate polarity between cells. Achieving subcellular asymmetry requires additional effectors, including some mediating post-translational modifications of core components.

Automated counting of imaginal disc cell nuclei.

Automated image quantification workflows have dramatically improved over the past decade, enriching image analysis and enhancing the ability to achieve statistical power. These analyses have proved especially useful for studies in organisms such as , where it is relatively simple to obtain high sample numbers for downstream analyses. However, the developing wing, an intensively utilized structure in developmental biology, has eluded efficient cell counting workflows due to its highly dense cellular population.

Anchor Away: A System for Fast Inhibition of Proteins in Drosophila.

Anchor away is a sequestering method designed to acutely and timely abrogate the function of a protein of interest by anchoring to a cell compartment different from its target. This method induces the binding of the target protein to the anchor by either the addition of rapamycin to Drosophila food or cell media. Rapamycin mediates the formation of a ternary complex between the anchor, which is tagged with the FK506-binding protein (FKBP12), and the target protein fused with the FKB12 rapamycin-binding (FRB) domain of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR).

Anchor Away - A Fast, Reliable and Reversible Technique To Inhibit Proteins in .

Several techniques have been developed to study specific gene function in loss-of-function situations. In , RNAi and the generation of mutant clones are widely used. However, both techniques have the limitation that there is a significant time lag before gene function is abolished.

Adult Drosophila Lack Hematopoiesis but Rely on a Blood Cell Reservoir at the Respiratory Epithelia to Relay Infection Signals to Surrounding Tissues.

The use of adult Drosophila melanogaster as a model for hematopoiesis or organismal immunity has been debated. Addressing this question, we identify an extensive reservoir of blood cells (hemocytes) at the respiratory epithelia (tracheal air sacs) of the thorax and head. Lineage tracing and functional analyses demonstrate that the majority of adult hemocytes are phagocytic macrophages (plasmatocytes) from the embryonic lineage that parallels vertebrate tissue macrophages.

Dpp controls growth and patterning in Drosophila wing precursors through distinct modes of action.

Dpp, a member of the BMP family, is a morphogen that specifies positional information in wing precursors. In this tissue, Dpp expressed along the anterior-posterior boundary forms a concentration gradient that controls the expression domains of target genes, which in turn specify the position of wing veins. Dpp also promotes growth in this tissue.