Size matters! Aurora A controls Drosophila larval development.

In metazoans, organisms arising from a fertilized egg, the embryo will develop through multiple series of cell divisions, both symmetric and asymmetric, leading to differentiation. Aurora A is a serine threonine kinase highly involved in such divisions. While intensively studied at the cell biology level, its function in the development of a whole organism has been neglected. Here we investigated the pleiotropic effect of Aurora A loss-of-function in Drosophila larval early development. We report that Aurora A is required for proper larval development timing control through direct and indirect means. In larval tissues, Aurora A is required for proper symmetric division rate and eventually development speed as we observed in central brain, wing disc and ring gland. Moreover, Aurora A inactivation induces a reduction of ecdysteroids levels and a pupariation delay as an indirect consequence of ring gland development deceleration. Finally, although central brain development is initially restricted, we confirmed that brain lobe size eventually increases due to additive phenotypes: delayed pupariation and over-proliferation of cells with an intermediate cell-identity between neuroblast and ganglion mother cell resulting from defective asymmetric neuroblast cell division.

Epithelial cell division - multiplying without losing touch.

Epithelia are compact tissues comprising juxtaposed cells that function as mechanical and chemical barriers between the body and the environment. This barrier relies, in part, on adhesive contacts within adherens junctions, which are formed and stabilized by E-cadherin and catenin proteins linked to the actomyosin cytoskeleton. During development and throughout adult life, epithelia are continuously growing or regenerating, largely as a result of cell division. Although persistence of adherens junctions is needed for epithelial integrity, these junctions are continually remodelled during cell division. In this Commentary, we will focus on cytokinesis, the final step of mitosis, a multiparty phenomenon in which the adherens junction belt plays an essential role and during which a new cell-cell interface is generated between daughter cells. This new interface is the site of intense remodelling, where new adhesive contacts are assembled and cell polarity is transmitted from mother to daughter cells, ultimately becoming the site of cell signalling.

Genetic identification of intracellular trafficking regulators involved in Notch-dependent binary cell fate acquisition following asymmetric cell division.

Notch signalling is involved in numerous cellular processes during development and throughout adult life. Although ligands and receptors are largely expressed in the whole organism, activation of Notch receptors only takes place in a subset of cells and/or tissues and is accurately regulated in time and space. Previous studies have demonstrated that endocytosis and recycling of both ligands and/or receptors are essential for this regulation. However, the precise endocytic routes, compartments and regulators involved in the spatiotemporal regulation are largely unknown. In order to identify intracellular trafficking regulators of Notch signalling, we have undertaken a tissue-specific dsRNA genetic screen of candidates potentially involved in endocytosis and recycling within the endolysosomal pathway. dsRNA against 418 genes was induced in the Drosophila melanogaster sensory organ lineage in which Notch signalling regulates binary cell fate acquisition. Gain or loss of Notch signalling phenotypes were observed in adult sensory organs for 113 of them. Furthermore, 26 genes were found to regulate the steady state localisation of Notch, Sanpodo, a Notch co-factor, and/or Delta in the pupal lineage. In particular, we identified 20 genes with previously unknown function in D. melanogaster intracellular trafficking. Among them, we identified CG2747 and we show that it regulates the localisation of clathrin adaptor AP-1 complex, a negative regulator of Notch signalling. Together, our results further demonstrate the essential function of intracellular trafficking in regulating Notch-signalling-dependent binary cell fate acquisition and constitute an additional step toward the elucidation of the routes followed by Notch receptor and ligands during signalling.

The multiple facets of ubiquitination in the regulation of notch signaling pathway.

The Notch signaling pathway regulates numerous aspects of metazoan development and tissue renewal. Deregulation or loss of Notch signaling is associated with a wide range of human disorders from developmental syndromes to cancer. Notch receptors and their ligands are widely expressed throughout development, yet Notch activation is robustly controlled in a spatio-temporal manner. Within the past decades, genetic screens and biochemical approaches led to the identification of more than 10 E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinating enzymes implicated in the regulation of the Notch pathway. In this review, we highlight the recent studies in Notch signaling that reveal how ubiquitination of components of the Notch pathway, ranging from degradation to regulation of membrane trafficking, impacts on the developmental control of the signaling activities of both Notch receptors and their ligands.

Nonautonomous sex determination controls sexually dimorphic development of the Drosophila gonad.

Sex determination in Drosophila is commonly thought to be a cell-autonomous process, where each cell decides its own sexual fate based on its sex chromosome constitution (XX versus XY). This is in contrast to sex determination in mammals, which largely acts nonautonomously through cell-cell signaling. Here we examine how sexual dimorphism is created in the Drosophila gonad by investigating the formation of the pigment cell precursors, a male-specific cell type in the embryonic gonad. Surprisingly, we find that sex determination in the pigment cell precursors, as well as the male-specific somatic gonadal precursors, is non-cell autonomous. Male-specific expression of Wnt2 within the somatic gonad triggers pigment cell precursor formation from surrounding cells. Our results indicate that nonautonomous sex determination is important for creating sexual dimorphism in the Drosophila gonad, similar to the manner in which sex-specific gonad formation is controlled in mammals.

The murine ortholog of notchless, a direct regulator of the notch pathway in Drosophila melanogaster, is essential for survival of inner cell mass cells.

Notch signaling is an evolutionarily conserved pathway involved in intercellular communication and is essential for proper cell fate choices. Numerous genes participate in the modulation of the Notch signaling pathway activity. Among them, Notchless (Nle) is a direct regulator of the Notch activity identified in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we characterized the murine ortholog of Nle and demonstrated that it has conserved the ability to modulate Notch signaling. We also generated mice deficient for mouse Nle (mNle) and showed that its disruption resulted in embryonic lethality shortly after implantation. In late mNle(-/-) blastocysts, inner cell mass (ICM) cells died through a caspase 3-dependent apoptotic process. Most deficient embryos exhibited a delay in the temporal down-regulation of Oct4 expression in the trophectoderm (TE). However, mNle-deficient TE was able to induce decidual swelling in vivo and properly differentiated in vitro. Hence, our results indicate that mNle is mainly required in ICM cells, being instrumental for their survival, and raise the possibility that the death of mNle-deficient embryos might result from abnormal Notch signaling during the first steps of development.

Aurora kinase A localises to mitochondria to control organelle dynamics and energy production.

Many epithelial cancers show cell cycle dysfunction tightly correlated with the overexpression of the serine/threonine kinase Aurora A (AURKA). Its role in mitotic progression has been extensively characterised, and evidence for new AURKA functions emerges. Here, we reveal that AURKA is located and imported in mitochondria in several human cancer cell lines. Mitochondrial AURKA impacts on two organelle functions: mitochondrial dynamics and energy production. When AURKA is expressed at endogenous levels during interphase, it induces mitochondrial fragmentation independently from RALA. Conversely, AURKA enhances mitochondrial fusion and ATP production when it is over-expressed. We demonstrate that AURKA directly regulates mitochondrial functions and that AURKA over-expression promotes metabolic reprogramming by increasing mitochondrial interconnectivity. Our work paves the way to anti-cancer therapeutics based on the simultaneous targeting of mitochondrial functions and AURKA inhibition.

Over-expression of Rififylin, a new RING finger and FYVE-like domain-containing protein, inhibits recycling from the endocytic recycling compartment.

Endocytosed membrane components are recycled to the cell surface either directly from early/sorting endosomes or after going through the endocytic recycling compartment (ERC). Studying recycling mechanisms is difficult, in part due to the fact that specific tools to inhibit this process are scarce. In this study, we have characterized a novel widely expressed protein, named Rififylin (Rffl) for RING Finger and FYVE-like domain-containing protein, that, when overexpressed in HeLa cells, induced the condensation of transferrin receptor-, Rab5-, and Rab11-positive recycling tubulovesicular membranes in the perinuclear region. Internalized transferrin was able to access these condensed endosomes but its exit from this compartment was delayed. Using deletion mutants, we show that the carboxy-terminal RING finger of Rffl is dispensable for its action. In contrast, the amino-terminal domain of Rffl, which shows similarities with the phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate-binding FYVE finger, is critical for the recruitment of Rffl to recycling endocytic membranes and for the inhibition of recycling, albeit in a manner that is independent of PtdIns(3)-kinase activity. Rffl overexpression represents a novel means to inhibit recycling that will help to understand the mechanisms involved in recycling from the ERC to the plasma membrane.

Abdominal-B is essential for proper sexually dimorphic development of the Drosophila gonad.

Sexual dimorphism requires the integration of positional information in the embryo with the sex determination pathway. Homeotic genes are a major source of positional information responsible for patterning along the anterior-posterior axis in embryonic development, and are likely to play a critical role in sexual dimorphism. Here, we investigate the role of homeotic genes in the sexually dimorphic development of the gonad in Drosophila. We have found that Abdominal-B (ABD-B) is expressed in a sexually dimorphic manner in the embryonic gonad. Furthermore, Abd-B is necessary and sufficient for specification of a sexually dimorphic cell type, the male-specific somatic gonadal precursors (msSGPs). In Abd-B mutants, the msSGPs are not specified and male gonads now resemble female gonads with respect to these cells. Ectopic expression of Abd-B is sufficient to induce formation of extra msSGPs in additional segments of the embryo. Abd-B works together with abdominal-A to pattern the non-sexually dimorphic somatic gonad in both sexes, while Abd-B alone specifies the msSGPs. Our results indicate that Abd-B acts at multiple levels to regulate gonad development and that Abd-B class homeotic genes are conserved factors in establishing gonad sexual dimorphism in diverse species.

Transcript map of the Ovum mutant (Om) locus: isolation by exon trapping of new candidate genes for the DDK syndrome.

The DDK syndrome is defined as the embryonic lethality of F1 mouse embryos from crosses between DDK females and males from other strains (named hereafter as non-DDK strains). Genetically controlled by the Ovum mutant (Om) locus, it is due to a deleterious interaction between a maternal factor present in DDK oocytes and the non-DDK paternal pronucleus. Therefore, the DDK syndrome constitutes a unique genetic tool to study the crucial interactions that take place between the parental genomes and the egg cytoplasm during mammalian development. In this paper, we present an extensive analysis performed by exon trapping on the Om region. Twenty-seven trapped sequences were from genes in the databases: beta-adaptin, CCT zeta2, DNA LigaseIII, Notchless, Rad51l3 and Scya1. Twenty-eight other sequences presented similarities with expressed sequence tags and genomic sequences whereas 57 did not. The pattern of expression of 37 of these markers was established. Importantly, five of them are expressed in DDK oocytes and are candidate genes for the maternal factor, and 20 are candidate genes for the paternal factor since they are expressed in testis. This data is an important step towards identifying the genes responsible for the DDK syndrome.

Embryonic expression pattern of the Drosophila Kallmann syndrome gene kal-1.

The role of kal-1, the gene responsible for the X chromosome-linked form of Kallmann syndrome, is not well definite. In Drosophila, the kal-1 gene encodes a putative protein with the characteristic kal-1 topology but with only two Fibronectin-like type III (FnIII) domains. We studied the embryonic expression pattern of kal-1 using whole mount in situ hybridization. This gene is expressed in the second half of embryogenesis showing a complex and dynamic pattern. kal-1 is expressed during important morphogenetic processes such as germ band retraction, dorsal closure and head involution. We found expression in cells associated with different sensory organs, such as the antennal organ, which has an olfactory function, the chordotonal organ, the Keilin's organ and the dorsal pharyngeal organ. Expression of kal-1 in the head also regards some ectodermal cells of the gnathal lobes. By studying the expression in Dfd and cnc homeotic mutants, we found that these ectodermal cells derive from the anterior and posterior mandibular segment, whose determination depends on cnc, and that the expression in the posterior mandibular segment requires Dfd activity. kal-1 is also expressed in the posterior part of the male gonads in a specific subset of the somatic cells called male-specific somatic gonadal precursors (msSGPs). This is the first time that the expression of a kal-1 ortholog has been demonstrated to be sex specific making the kal-1 transcript a useful tool for the study of sex determination in the gonad.

AP-1 controls the trafficking of Notch and Sanpodo toward E-cadherin junctions in sensory organ precursors.

In Drosophila melanogaster, external sensory organs develop from a single sensory organ precursor (SOP). The SOP divides asymmetrically to generate daughter cells, whose fates are governed by differential Notch activation. Here we show that the clathrin adaptor AP-1 complex, localized at the trans Golgi network and in recycling endosomes, acts as a negative regulator of Notch signaling. Inactivation of AP-1 causes ligand-dependent activation of Notch, leading to a fate transformation within sensory organs. Loss of AP-1 affects neither cell polarity nor the unequal segregation of the cell fate determinants Numb and Neuralized. Instead, it causes apical accumulation of the Notch activator Sanpodo and stabilization of both Sanpodo and Notch at the interface between SOP daughter cells, where DE-cadherin is localized. Endocytosis-recycling assays reveal that AP-1 acts in recycling endosomes to prevent internalized Spdo from recycling toward adherens junctions. Because AP-1 does not prevent endocytosis and recycling of the Notch ligand Delta, our data indicate that the DE-cadherin junctional domain may act as a launching pad through which endocytosed Notch ligand is trafficked for signaling.

Development of the male germline stem cell niche in Drosophila.

Stem cells are found in specialized microenvironments, or "niches", which regulate stem cell identity and behavior. The adult testis and ovary in Drosophila contain germline stem cells (GSCs) with well-defined niches, and are excellent models for studying niche development. Here, we investigate the formation of the testis GSC niche, or "hub", during the late stages of embryogenesis. By morphological and molecular criteria, we identify and follow the development of an embryonic hub that forms from a subset of anterior somatic gonadal precursors (SGPs) in the male gonad. Embryonic hub cells form a discrete cluster apart from other SGPs, express several molecular markers in common with the adult hub and organize anterior-most germ cells in a rosette pattern characteristic of GSCs in the adult. The sex determination genes transformer and doublesex ensure that hub formation occurs only in males. Interestingly, hub formation occurs in both XX and XY gonads mutant for doublesex, indicating that doublesex is required to repress hub formation in females. This work establishes the Drosophila male GSC niche as a model for understanding the mechanisms controlling niche formation and initial stem cell recruitment, as well as the development of sexual dimorphism in the gonad.

EGF-induced proliferation of adult human pancreatic duct cells is mediated by the MEK/ERK cascade.

Human postnatal pancreatic duct cells are a potential source of new beta cells. Factors regulating proliferation of human pancreatic duct cells in vitro are unknown. In several other cell types, this process is influenced by ligands of the ErbB receptor family. The expression and functionality of the ErbB family members and their possible role in duct cell proliferation were determined. In cultured adult human pancreatic duct cells the different members of the ErbB family (ErbB1-4) were present at transcript and protein level. Stimulation of the duct cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and betacellulin results in Tyr-phosphorylation of ErbB1 and ErbB2, followed by activation of Shc, MEK1/2 and ERK1/2. Duct cells with activated ErbB signaling changed morphology and motility. EGF induced proliferation of a fraction of the duct cells and treatment with PD98059 prevented Ki67 expression in EGF-supplemented cells. When transduced with recombinant adenovirus expressing constitutively activated MEK1, duct cells proliferate and spread even in the absence of EGF. Importantly, the adult human duct cells retain their capacity to recapitulate ngn3-induced embryonic (neuro)endocrine differentiation after proliferation. Therefore, the present data support a possible role for human adult pancreatic duct cells, following expansion and transdifferentiation, as a source of insulin by transplantation to type I diabetes patients.