Dpp from the anterior stripe of cells is crucial for the growth of the Drosophila wing disc

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Abstract

The Dpp morphogen gradient derived from the anterior stripe of cells is thought to control growth and patterning of the Drosophila wing disc. However, the spatial-temporal requirement of dpp for growth and patterning remained largely unknown. Recently, two studies re-addressed this question. By generating a conditional null allele, one study proposed that the dpp stripe is critical for patterning but not for growth. In contrast, using a membrane-anchored nanobody to trap Dpp, the other study proposed that Dpp dispersal from the stripe is required for patterning and also for medial wing disc growth, at least in the posterior compartment. Thus, growth control by the Dpp morphogen gradient remains under debate. Here, by removing dpp from the stripe at different time points, we show that the dpp stripe source is indeed required for wing disc growth, also during third instar larval stages.

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Shinya Matsuda

Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland

For correspondence
shinya.matsuda@unibas.ch

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Markus Affolter

Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland

For correspondence
markus.affolter@unibas.ch

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-5171-0016

Funding

Basel-Stadt

Markus Affolter

Basel-Land

Markus Affolter

JSPS postdoctoral fellowship for research abroad

Shinya Matsuda

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.