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Echinoid: a novel Egfr antagonist

Epidermal growth factor receptor (Egfr) signalling is a commonly deployed signalling pathway during development that needs to be tightly regulated to prevent inappropriate inductive events. Now, two groups report a novel antagonist of Egfr signalling, adding to the negative regulators of this pathway that are already known. Their findings show that the Drosophila L1-type transmembrane molecule Echinoid (Ed) acts as an Egfr antagonist during fly retinal development and is required for the proper spatial development of R8 photoreceptor cells: in its absence, Egfr signalling is increased during R8 formation, causing isolated R8 photoreceptors to be replaced by groups of 2-3 cells. Spencer and Cagan's findings, on p. 3725, shed light on how Ed might do this: it co-precipitates with Egfr from cultured cells and eye imaginal discs, indicating that Ed might downregulate Egfr by directly binding to it. In addition, the phosphorylation of Ed is promoted by Egfr activity. These results, together with those of Rawlins et al. on p. 3715, indicate that Ed might mediate a short-range repression of Egfr in the developing eye, and advance our understanding of the regulation of this important pathway.

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Related articles in Development:

Echinoid limits R8 photoreceptor specification by inhibiting inappropriate EGF receptor signalling within R8 equivalence groups

Emma L. Rawlins, Neil M. White, and Andrew P. Jarman
Development 2003 130: 3715-3724. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Echinoid is essential for regulation of Egfr signaling and R8 formation during Drosophila eye development

Susan A. Spencer and Ross L. Cagan
Development 2003 130: 3725-3733. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?