A luminal glycoprotein drives dose-dependent diameter expansion of the Drosophila melanogaster hindgut tube.

An important step in epithelial organ development is size maturation of the organ lumen to attain correct dimensions. Here we show that the regulated expression of Tenectin (Tnc) is critical to shape the Drosophila melanogaster hindgut tube. Tnc is a secreted protein that fills the embryonic hindgut lumen during tube diameter expansion. Inside the lumen, Tnc contributes to detectable O-Glycans and forms a dense striated matrix. Loss of tnc causes a narrow hindgut tube, while Tnc over-expression drives tube dilation in a dose-dependent manner. Cellular analyses show that luminal accumulation of Tnc causes an increase in inner and outer tube diameter, and cell flattening within the tube wall, similar to the effects of a hydrostatic pressure in other systems. When Tnc expression is induced only in cells at one side of the tube wall, Tnc fills the lumen and equally affects all cells at the lumen perimeter, arguing that Tnc acts non-cell-autonomously. Moreover, when Tnc expression is directed to a segment of a tube, its luminal accumulation is restricted to this segment and affects the surrounding cells to promote a corresponding local diameter expansion. These findings suggest that deposition of Tnc into the lumen might contribute to expansion of the lumen volume, and thereby to stretching of the tube wall. Consistent with such an idea, ectopic expression of Tnc in different developing epithelial tubes is sufficient to cause dilation, while epidermal Tnc expression has no effect on morphology. Together, the results show that epithelial tube diameter can be modelled by regulating the levels and pattern of expression of a single luminal glycoprotein.

Tissue-autonomous EcR functions are required for concurrent organ morphogenesis in the Drosophila embryo.

The insect hormone 20-hydroxy-ecdysone (20E) peaks at different stages during the life cycle. The hormone signal is commonly transmitted by a nuclear receptor consisting of the ecdysone receptor (EcR) and Ultraspiracle (Usp, orthologous to vertebrate RXR). EcR:Usp then initiate the expression of a series of gene regulators that help mediate biological responses to the hormone. Here, we investigated the embryonic ecdysone-signalling mechanism. The rise in 20E levels that occurs at mid-embryogenesis is required for major tissue movements to complete organ morphogenesis, but the functions of EcR and Usp during embryogenesis have remained unclear. We find that both EcR and Usp are essential for head involution, dorsal closure and tracheal and midgut morphogenesis, processes that also depend on 20E, arguing that embryonic 20E signals via EcR:Usp. We also show that EcR mediates the effects on organ morphogenesis in a tissue-autonomous manner and thus, that embryonic EcR functions are not fully reflected by the commonly used EcR activity assays. Finally, we show that embryonic 20E via EcR instructs the temporal and tissue-specific expression of four transcription factors that are needed for late embryogenesis and are common to the metamorphic 20E response. The results suggest that mid-embryonic EcR-activation imparts a level of gene regulation during embryonic organogenesis that has been largely overlooked, and possibly facilitates synchronized development of individual organs.