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First published online 24 September 2003
doi: 10.1242/dev.00759

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Egfr signaling regulates ommatidial rotation and cell motility in the Drosophila eye via MAPK/Pnt signaling and the Ras effector Canoe/AF6

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Brookdale Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: marek.mlodzik{at}mssm.edu)

Accepted 29 July 2003

Epidermal Growth Factor-receptor (Egfr) signaling is evolutionarily conserved and controls a variety of different cellular processes. In Drosophila these include proliferation, patterning, cell-fate determination, migration and survival. Here we provide evidence for a new role of Egfr signaling in controlling ommatidial rotation during planar cell polarity (PCP) establishment in the Drosophila eye. Although the signaling pathways involved in PCP establishment and photoreceptor cell-type specification are beginning to be unraveled, very little is known about the associated 90° rotation process. One of the few rotation-specific mutations known is roulette (rlt) in which ommatidia rotate to a random degree, often more than 90°. Here we show that rlt is a rotation-specific allele of the inhibitory Egfr ligand Argos and that modulation of Egfr activity shows defects in ommatidial rotation. Our data indicate that, beside the Raf/MAPK cascade, the Ras effector Canoe/AF6 acts downstream of Egfr/Ras and provides a link from Egfr to cytoskeletal elements in this developmentally regulated cell motility process. We provide further evidence for an involvement of cadherins and non-muscle myosin II as downstream components controlling rotation. In particular, the involvement of the cadherin Flamingo, a PCP gene, downstream of Egfr signaling provides the first link between PCP establishment and the Egfr pathway.

Key words: Canoe/AF6, Egfr, Ommatidial rotation, Planar cell polarity (PCP), roulette (rlt), Argos, Flamingo

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