QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by del Álamo, D. Articles by Díaz-Benjumea, F. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by del Álamo, D. Articles by Díaz-Benjumea, F. J.

Spitz/EGFr signalling via the Ras/MAPK pathway mediates the induction of bract cells in Drosophila legs

Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa-C.S.I.C., Facultad de Ciencias-CV, Universidad Autónoma-Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain

*Author for correspondence (e-mail: diazbenjumea{at}cbm.uam.es)

Accepted 16 January 2002

In the development of Drosophila, the activation of the EGFr pathway elicits different cellular responses at different times and in different tissues. A variety of approaches have been used to identify the mechanisms that confer this response specificity. We have analysed the specification of bract cells in Drosophila legs. We observed that mechanosensory bristles induced bract fate in neighbouring epidermal cells, and that the RAS/MAPK pathway mediated this induction. We have identified Spitz and EGFr as the ligand and the receptor of this signalling, and by ubiquitous expression of constitutively activated forms of components of the pathway we have found that the acquisition of bract fate is temporally and spatially restricted. We have also studied the role of the poxn gene in the inhibition of bract induction in chemosensory bristles.

Key words: Drosophila, Leg, Bract, EGFr, spitz, poxn