Evolutionary expansion of apical extracellular matrix is required for the elongation of cells in a novel structure
- University of Pittsburgh, United States
Abstract
One of the fundamental gaps in our knowledge of how novel anatomical structures evolve is understanding the origins of the morphogenetic processes that form these features. Here, we traced the cellular development of a recently evolved morphological novelty, the posterior lobe of D. melanogaster. We found that this genital outgrowth forms through extreme increases in epithelial cell height. By examining the apical extracellular matrix (aECM), we also uncovered a vast matrix associated with the developing genitalia of lobed and non-lobed species. The aECM protein Dumpy is spatially expanded in lobe-forming species, connecting the posterior lobe to the ancestrally derived aECM network. Further analysis demonstrated that Dumpy attachments are necessary for cell height increases during posterior lobe development. We propose that the aECM presents a rich reservoir for generating morphological novelty and highlights a yet unseen role for aECM in regulating extreme cell height.
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figures 2, 6, 7
Article and author information
Author details
Sarah Jacquelyn Smith
Funding
National Institutes of Health (GM107387)
- Mark Rebeiz
National Institutes of Health (HD044750)
- Lance A Davidson
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2020, Smith et al.
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.
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Evolutionary expansion of apical extracellular matrix is required for the elongation of cells in a novel structure
eLife 9:e55965.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55965
