Developmental compartments in the larval trachea of Drosophila
- University of California, San Francisco, United States
- PharmaLex GmbH, Germany
- Boston University, United States
- University of Maryland, College Park, United States
Abstract
The Drosophila tracheal system is a branched tubular network that forms in the embryo by a post-mitotic program of morphogenesis. In third instar larvae (L3), cells constituting the second tracheal metamere (Tr2) reenter the cell cycle. Clonal analysis of L3 Tr2 revealed that dividing cells in the dorsal trunk, dorsal branch and transverse connective branches respect lineage restriction boundaries near branch junctions. These boundaries corresponded to domains of gene expression, for example where cells expressing Spalt, Delta and Serrate in the dorsal trunk meet vein-expressing cells in the dorsal branch or transverse connective. Notch signaling was activated to one side of these borders and was required for the identity, specializations and segregation of border cells. These findings suggest that Tr2 is comprised of developmental compartments and that developmental compartments are an organizational feature relevant to branched tubular networks.
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© 2015, Rao et al.
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Developmental compartments in the larval trachea of Drosophila
eLife 4:e08666.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08666
