expanded

Actin-Capping Protein and the Hippo pathway regulate F-actin and tissue growth in Drosophila

The conserved Hippo tumor suppressor pathway is a key kinase cascade that controls tissue growth by regulating the nuclear import and activity of the transcription co-activator Yorkie. This study reports that the actin-Capping Protein αβ heterodimer, which regulates actin polymerization, also functions to suppress inappropriate tissue growth by inhibiting Yorkie activity. Loss of Capping Protein activity results in abnormal accumulation of apical F-actin, reduced Hippo pathway activity and the ectopic expression of several Yorkie target genes that promote cell survival and proliferation. Reduction of two other actin-regulatory proteins, Cofilin and the cyclase-associated protein Capulet, cause abnormal F-actin accumulation, but only the loss of Capulet, like that of Capping Protein, induces ectopic Yorkie activity. Interestingly, F-actin also accumulates abnormally when Hippo pathway activity is reduced or abolished, independently of Yorkie activity, whereas overexpression of the Hippo pathway component expanded can partially reverse the abnormal accumulation of F-actin in cells depleted for Capping Protein. Taken together, these findings indicate a novel interplay between Hippo pathway activity and actin filament dynamics that is essential for normal growth control (Fernández, 2011).

The Hippo pathway has emerged as a crucial regulator of tissue size in both Drosophila and mammals. In Drosophila, the Hpo pathway comprises a kinase cascade in which the Hpo kinase binds the WW domain adaptor protein Salvador (Sav) to phosphorylate and activate the Warts (Wts) kinase. Wts, in turn, facilitated by Mats, phosphorylates and prevents nuclear translocation of the transcriptional co-activator Yorkie (Yki). This leads to transcriptional downregulation of target genes that positively regulate cell growth, survival and proliferation, including the Drosophila inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (Diap1; thread - FlyBase), expanded (ex), Merlin (Mer) and wingless (wg) in the inner distal ring, within the proximal wing imaginal disc. The upstream components Ex, Hpo and Wts are also thought to regulate Yki through a phosphorylation-independent mechanism, by directly binding to Yki, sequestering it in the cytosol and thereby abrogating its nuclear activity (Fernández, 2011).

Multiple upstream inputs are known to regulate the core Hpo kinase cassette at various levels. Thus, the atypical cadherin Fat was identified as an upstream component of the Hpo pathway and was proposed to transduce signals from the atypical cadherin Dachsous (Ds) and Four-jointed (Fj), a Golgi-resident kinase that phosphorylates Fat and Ds. Moreover, the two Ezrin-Radixin-Moesin (ERM) family members, Ex and Mer have been reported to lie upstream of the Hpo pathway. Mer and Ex can heterodimerize and are believed to exert their growth suppression activity by activating the Hpo kinase. However, how the different inputs that feed into the core kinase cassette are coordinated to regulate Yki activity is unknown (Fernández, 2011).

ERM proteins form a structural linkage between transmembrane components and actin filaments (F-actin). For instance, mammalian Mer binds numerous cytoskeletal factors, including actin, and appears to act as an inhibitor of actin polymerization. Interestingly, the Merlin-actin cytoskeleton association is required for growth suppression and inhibition of epidermal growth factor (EGFR) signaling. Moreover, F-actin depolymerization promotes activation of the Hpo orthologs MST1 and MST2 in mouse fibroblasts (Densham, 2009). These observations suggest a role for F-actin dynamics in modulating Hpo pathway activity (Fernández, 2011).

Actin filament growth, stability and disassembly are controlled by a plethora of actin-binding proteins. Among these, the Capping Protein (CP) heterodimer, composed of α (Cpa) and β (Cpb) subunits, acts as a functional heterodimer to restrict the accessibility of the filament barbed end, inhibiting addition or loss of actin monomers (Cooper, 2008). In Drosophila, mutations in either cpa or cpb, lead to accumulation of F-actin within the cell and give rise to identical developmental phenotypes that are tissue specific. In the wing blade (BL), the most distal domain of the imaginal disc, cpa and cpb prevent cell extrusion and death, but they are not required for this function in the most proximal domain, the prospective body wall and the hinge wing imaginal disc (Janody, 2006). The Cofilin homolog Twinstar (Tsr) and the Cyclase-associated protein Capulet (Capt) also restrict actin polymerization: Tsr severs filaments and enhances dissociation of actin monomers from the pointed end, whereas Capt sequesters actin monomers, preventing their incorporation into filaments (Fernández, 2011).

This study investigated the relationship between the control of the actin cytoskeleton and Hpo pathway activity. Actin-binding proteins CP and Capt, but not Tsr, were shown to enhance Hpo signaling activity. Moreover, a new relationship was uncovered between the Hpo pathway and the machinery that regulates F-actin, and it was revealed that Hpo signaling activity, like CP, limits F-actin accumulation at apical sites independently of Yki. Finally, it is proposed that regulation of an apical F-actin network by Hpo signaling activity and CP sustains Hpo pathway activity, thereby limiting Yki nuclear import and the activation of proliferation and survival genes (Fernández, 2011).

This report shows an interdependency between Hpo signaling activity and F-actin dynamics in which CP and Hpo pathway activities inhibit F-actin accumulation, and the reduction in F-actin in turn sustains Hpo pathway activity, preventing Yki nuclear translocation and upregulation of proliferation and survival genes (Fernández, 2011).

It is suggested that Ex prevents apical F-actin accumulation through Hpo signaling activity but independently of Yki. ERM proteins can form a structural linkage between transmembrane components and the actin cytoskeleton. Mammalian Mer appears to act as an inhibitor of actin polymerization. Moreover, the Mer-actin cytoskeleton association has a crucial role for growth suppression and inhibition of EGFR signaling. In Drosophila, Mer and Ex are structurally related and appear to have partially redundant functions but vary in their requirement depending on the tissue or developmental stage. In imaginal discs, loss of ex shows stronger phenotypes when compared with those of Mer. Ex might also have a stronger requirement on F-actin dynamics, as loss of ex, but not that of Mer, triggered F-actin accumulation. Surprisingly, loss of hpo, sav, mats or wts also triggered apical F-actin accumulation. Ex is likely to affect F-actin through activation of the Hpo kinase cassette because in most ex mutant clones, overexpressing hpo suppressed F-actin accumulation. Some clones seemed to contain increased F-actin. However, these clones also constricted apically, suggesting that the effect on F-actin levels results from a reduction of the apical cell surface and that in the absence of ex, differential activity of overexpressed hpo triggers cell shape changes. Together, these observations argue that Ex prevents apical F-actin accumulation through Hpo signaling activity but independently of Yki (Fernández, 2011).

Loss of Hpo pathway activity or CP triggerw apical F-actin accumulation. Ex localizes to the sub-apical region of epithelial cells, and colocalizes with an HA-tagged form of Cpa, Ex, Hpo, Sav and Wts all interact with each other through WW and PPXY motifs (Oh, 2009; Reddy, 2008). Therefore, a pool of Hpo, Sav and Wts, localized at apical sites, could directly regulate an actin-regulatory protein. Hpo pathway activity might act downstream of CP on F-actin. In agreement with this, ex overexpression significantly suppresses F-actin accumulation in cells with reduced CP levels. The role of Hpo signaling activity might be to inhibit an actin-nucleating factor, which adds new actin monomers to filament barbed ends free of the capping activity of CP. However, it cannot be excluded that ex overexpression enhances the activity of residual Cpa in cells knocked down using RNAi, nor that Hpo pathway activity acts in parallel to CP on F-actin. Interestingly, although endogenous Ex is upregulated in cells lacking CP, mutant cells still accumulated F-actin. wts mutant clones also upregulated Ex, which, when overexpressed, suppresses growth of wts mutant clones. Therefore, the increased levels of endogenous Ex in cells lacking either CP or wts appears to be insufficient to fully suppress the effects of loss of CP or wts on F-actin and growth, respectively (Fernández, 2011).

The data indicate that CP inhibits Yki nuclear accumulation, activation of Yki target genes, and consequently overgrowth of the proximal wing epithelium. Interestingly, Yki was also found to accumulate in nuclei of wild-type cells adjacent to the clone border. Consistent with a non-autonomous effect of CP loss on Hpo pathway activity, ex-lacZ and diap1-lacZ were upregulated in wild-type cells adjacent to CP mutant clones. However, Ex levels were reduced in wild-type neighboring cells. Cells expressing different amounts of ds and fj also upregulate ex-lacZ, but show reduced levels of Ex. Therefore, loss of CP might affect Fj or Ds levels, creating a sharp boundary of their expression. However, in contrast to clones overexpressing ds or mutant for fj, cell lacking CP also upregulated Ex and Mer inside the mutant clones, indicating that CP also acts cell-autonomously to promote Hpo signaling activity. CP might facilitate Yki phosphorylation by the Hpo kinase cassette as cpa-depleted tissues contain decreased phospho-Yki levels. But, the possibility cannot be excluded that CP also favors the direct binding of non-phosphorylated Yki to Ex, Hpo or Wts (Oh, 2009). Further analysis will be required to elucidate the mechanisms by which CP restricts Yki activity cell autonomously and in wild-type neighboring cells (Fernández, 2011).

The results argue for a constitutive role of CP in Hpo pathway activity, since Yki target genes are upregulated in the whole wing and eye imaginal discs. However, loss of CP did not fully recapitulate the phenotype for core components of the hpo pathway. Despite that, on average, cpb mutant clones located in the proximal wing disc domain were 25% larger than wild-type twin spots; 60% of mutant clones failed to grow. Moreover, in the distal wing epithelium, reducing CP levels induces mislocalization of the adherens junction components Armadillo and DE-Cadherin, extrude and death. Furthermore, in Drosophila, CP also prevents retinal degeneration (Delalle, 2005; Johnson, 2008). This indicates that although loss of CP can, under certain conditions, result in tissue overgrowth due to inhibition of Hpo pathway activity, other factors such as the polarity status, also determine the survival and growth of the mutant tissue. Therefore, in addition to promoting Hpo pathway activity, CP has additional developmental functions in epithelia. However, the possibility cannot be excluded that, like most upstream inputs that feed into the Hpo pathway, CP has a tissue-specific requirement in Hpo pathway activity (Fernández, 2011).

CP, Capt and Tsr all restrict F-actin assembly directly. CP and Capt control F-actin formation near the apical surface and inhibit ectopic expression of Yki target genes, whereas Tsr acts around the entire cell cortex and has no effect on Yki target genes. This argues that Hpo signaling activity is not affected by the excess of F-actin per se but provides significant support to the view that stabilization of an apical F-actin network by CP, Capt and Hpo signaling activity feeds back on the Hpo pathway to sustain its activity (Fernández, 2011).

These findings do not lead to an understanding of where F-actin accumulation intersects Hpo signaling activity because both Hpo signaling activity and F-actin dynamics feedback to each other. For instance, hpo or ex overexpression suppressed growth of CP-depleted cells. But, overexpressed ex and possibly hpo also suppress F-actin accumulation of Cpa-depleted cells. The control of F-actin by Hpo signaling activity and CP might constitute a parallel input, which sustains Hpo pathway activity. Alternatively, F-actin could act upstream of the core kinase cascade, which in turn feeds back to F-actin, to maintain its activity. The identification of additional actin cytoskeletal components that either promote Hpo pathway activity or act downstream of Hpo pathway activity on F-actin would help to discriminate between these possibilities (Fernández, 2011).

How F-actin influences Hpo signaling activity remains to be determined. The apical F-actin network, which regulates the formation and movement of endocytic vesicles from the plasma membrane, might promote the recycling or degradation of Hpo pathway components. Increased F-actin at apical sites would, therefore, affect protein turnover. Alternatively, apical F-actin might act as a scaffold to tether Hpo pathway components apically. In support of this, Ex, Hpo, Sav, Wts and Yki could all interact between each other through WW and PPXY motifs at apical sites (Oh, 2009; Reddy, 2008). Moreover, expression of a membrane-targeted form of Mats enhances Hpo signaling (Ho, 2010). Although Ex and Mer are properly localized in CP mutant cells, other members of the pathway might be mislocalized in the presence of excess F-actin. Interestingly, in mouse fibroblasts, the Hpo orthologs MST1 and MST2 colocalize with F-actin structures and are activated upon F-actin depolymerization (Densham, 2009), suggesting that by tethering Hpo pathway components, F-actin dynamics modulates their activity. Finally, the F-actin network might act as a mechanical transducer. Most of the mechanosensitive responses require tethering to force-bearing actin filaments. Tissue surface tension has been proposed to be a stimulus for a feedback mechanism that could regulate tissue growth. The tension exerted by neighboring cells might be sensed at the cell membrane by the actin cytoskeleton and translated to the regulation of cell proliferation through the Hpo signaling pathway (Fernández, 2011).

Drosophila PI4KIIIalpha is required in follicle cells for oocyte polarization and Hippo signaling

In a genetic screen mutations were isolated in CG10260, which encodes a phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI4KIIIalpha). PI4KIIIalpha was found to be is required for Hippo signaling in Drosophila ovarian follicle cells. PI4KIIIalpha mutations in the posterior follicle cells lead to oocyte polarization defects similar to those caused by mutations in the Hippo signaling pathway. PI4KIIIalpha mutations also cause misexpression of well-established Hippo signaling targets. The Merlin-Expanded-Kibra complex is required at the apical membrane for Hippo activity. In PI4KIIIalpha mutant follicle cells, Merlin fails to localize to the apical domain. This analysis of PI4KIIIalpha mutants provides a new link in Hippo signal transduction from the cell membrane to its core kinase cascade (Yan, 2011).

DV asymmetry of the Drosophila oocyte is established during mid-oogenesis through a repolarization process initiated in the posterior follicle cells PFCs. In response to an unknown signal from the PFCs the oocyte nucleus migrates from the posterior end to the dorsal-anterior corner of the oocyte. As a consequence, the Gurken (Grk) protein no longer accumulates at the posterior cortex of the oocyte, but is now found in the dorsal-anterior membrane overlying the oocyte nucleus where it activates EGFR to initiate DV patterning. In a genetic screen directed at FC components affecting this repolarization process, a complementation group with six lethal mutant alleles was isolated, and initially named after a representative allele, GS27. When the PFCs were mutant for the GS27 gene product, the oocyte nucleus frequently remained at the posterior end of the oocyte. This phenotype was confirmed by the abnormal posterior localization of Grk in late egg chambers (Yan, 2011).

The lethality of the GS27 complementation group was mapped through duplication and deficiency mapping to the X-chromosomal region 3A4-3A8, which contains 16 genes. Sequencing of candidate genes showed that four alleles of the GS27 complementation group contained mutations that lead to premature stop codons in the coding region of CG10260, a predicted phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase. Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases (PI4Ks) catalyze the generation of PIP₄. Phosphoinositides, including PIP₄, are important phospholipids in the cell membrane that participate in numerous signaling events. Four classes of PI4Ks have been identified in mammalian cells that localize to different cellular compartments and are likely to perform non-redundant functions. Three PI4K genes have been annotated in the fly genome: four wheel drive (fwd; PI4KIIIbeta), CG2929 (PI4KIIalpha) and CG10260 (PI4KIIIalpha) (Yan, 2011).

To investigate the oocyte polarization defects caused by PI4KIIIalpha mutations, the localization of well-established oocyte polarity markers was examined. The microtubule cytoskeleton is polarized in the oocyte. The microtubule plus-end marker Kinesin (Kin, or Khc) fused to β-gal (Kin-β-gal), which normally forms a crescent at the posterior of the oocyte after stage 8, was examined. When the PFCs were mutant for PI4KIIIalpha, Kin-β-gal either localized to the center of the oocyte or was diffuse in the oocyte. Staufen localizes to the posterior pole of wild-type oocytes after stage 8 and is required for the localization of maternal RNAs. In PFC clones mutant for PI4KIIIalpha, Staufen also frequently mislocalized to the center of the oocyte or became dispersed in the oocyte. Therefore, in combination with the mislocalization of the oocyte nucleus, these results demonstrate that PI4KIIIalpha is required in the PFCs for all aspects of the establishment of correct oocyte polarity (Yan, 2011).

Oocyte polarization relies on the integrity of four signaling pathways in the PFCs: Notch, JAK/STAT, EGFR and Hippo. To examine whether the polarization defect observed in PI4KIIIalpha mutants was caused by disruption of one of these signaling pathways, well-established downstream targets of each pathway were examined in PI4KIIIalpha mutants (Yan, 2011).

The EGFR signaling reporter kekkon-lacZ (kek-lacZ) is highly expressed in the PFCs at stage 7 and 8 as a result of EFGR activation by Grk. In PFCs mutant for PI4KIIIalpha, the kek-lacZ expression level was comparable to that of wild-type PFCs, indicating that EFGR signaling was unaffected. The JAK/STAT signaling reporter 10×STAT92E-GFP is normally turned on in the PFCs during stage 7 and 8 in response to JAK/STAT activation. Apparently normal levels of GFP were detected in the nuclei of PI4KIIIalpha mutant PFCs, suggesting that JAK/STAT signaling was also intact (Yan, 2011).

Notch signaling is required for FCs to exit the mitotic cell cycle at stage 6 and switch to an endocycle. PI4KIIIalpha mutant PFCs maintained a mitotic cell cycle after stage 6, as indicated by the sustained staining of the mitotic marker phosphorylated Histone H3 (PH3), which is only seen up to stage 6 in wild-type FCs. Consistent with a failure to exit the mitotic cycle, the PI4KIIIalpha mutant PFCs often lost their monolayered epithelial structure and had smaller nuclei than neighboring cells. The expression of two Notch signaling targets, Cut and Hindsight (Hnt; Pebbled) was examined. In wild-type FCs, Cut expression is downregulated whereas Hnt expression is upregulated upon Notch activation at stage 6. PI4KIIIalpha mutant PFCs frequently failed to downregulate Cut and upregulate Hnt expression. Interestingly, PI4KIIIalpha mutant cells on the lateral side of the egg chambers showed no defect in Notch signaling. These results suggest that PI4KIIIalpha mutations compromise Notch signaling in the PFCs only (Yan, 2011).

The phenotypes described above are similar to those caused by mutations in Hippo pathway components. In particular, the observation that only PFCs appear affected is characteristic of mutations in the Hippo pathway, which are reported to affect Notch signaling only in this group of FCs. When the expression of a Hippo pathway target, ex, was checked using the enhancer trap line ex-lacZ, a much higher level of β-galin PI4KIIIalpha mutant FCs was detected than in wild-type cells. This upregulation was observed in all FCs, regardless of their position. Another Hippo pathway target, Diap1, monitored with the enhancer trap line diap1-lacZ, was mildly upregulated in the PI4KIIIalpha mutant FCs. These results indicate that the polarization defect in the PI4KIIIalpha mutants is likely to be caused by defective Hippo signaling (Yan, 2011).

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the apical localization of the Expanded-Merlin-Kibra complex is crucial for Hippo signaling activity as it is proposed to function as a platform to bring the core Hippo components into close proximity and facilitate the phosphorylation reactions. In addition, it has been reported that Expanded directly interacts with Yki and functions to sequester Yki in the cytoplasm (Yan, 2011).

To investigate how mutations in PI4KIIIalpha lead to defective Hippo signaling, the apical localization of the Merlin-Expanded-Kibra complex was exmined. The complex is confined to the apical domain in wild-type FCs. In the PI4KIIIalpha mutant cells, a loss of apical Merlin staining was observed, whereas Expanded and Kibra were upregulated at the apical membrane. In addition to being Hippo pathway regulators, Expanded and Kibra are also targets of the Hippo signaling pathway. Mutations in Hippo pathway components lead to upregulation of Expanded and Kibra. In addition, it has been reported that the apical sorting of Merlin, Expanded and Kibra occur independently of each other. Therefore, the absence of Merlin from the apical membrane in PI4KIIIalpha mutant cells is the likely cause of the signaling defect, and the upregulation of Expanded and Kibra would be an expected secondary consequence of the disrupted Hippo signaling (Yan, 2011).

When PI4KIIIalpha mutant clones were examined in the imaginal eye discs of early second instar larvae, an absence of Merlin from the apical and junctional region was observed. However, no overgrowth phenotype typical of Hippo pathway mutations was observed. In fact, adults with mutant eye clones had smaller eyes than wild-type adults. Eye discs from late L2 larvae exhibited pyknotic nuclei staining in PI4KIIIalpha mutant clones, indicating death of the mutant cells (data not shown) (Yan, 2011).

Multiple classes of PI4Ks exist in eukaryotic cells that participate in producing various phosphoinositide species in distinct cellular compartments. Three PI4K genes have been annotated in the fly genome. When the intracellular distribution and level of PIP₂ was examined using a Ubi-PH-PLCδ-GFP reporter, a complete absence of PIP₂ from PI4KIIIalpha mutant FCs was observed in rare cases. In most cases, the PIP₂ reporter was specifically lost from the apical plasma membrane in the mutant cells. The yeast homolog of PI4KIIIalpha, Stt4p, localizes to patches on the plasma membrane where it is required for normal actin cytoskeleton organization. When the actin cytoskeleton of PI4KIIIalpha mutant FCs was examined by phalloidin staining, they exhibited abnormal actin-enriched spike structures on their apical domain that were positively marked by the microvillus marker Cad99C, suggesting that the spikes were malformed microvilli. As mutations in the Hippo pathway have been reported to lead to apical domain expansion, one possibility is that the malformed microvilli are caused by defective Hippo signaling. However, the morphology of the actin-enriched spikes in PI4KIIIalpha mutant cells is distinct from that caused by mutations in the Hippo pathway, suggesting that the loss of PI4KIIIalpha might also have a Hippo-independent effect on apical membrane structure (Yan, 2011).

How could PI4KIIIalpha mutations cause Merlin mislocalization? Expanded and Merlin are ERM (Ezrin, Radixin and Moesin)-related proteins, which are key linkers of the plasma membrane and cytoskeleton. Classical ERM proteins bind to PIP₂ in the membrane to switch from a closed to an open conformation for their activation. Significantly, in PI4KIIIalpha mutant cells, phosphorylated ERM proteins were absent from the apical microvilli region as indicated by a phospho-ERM-specific antibody. The malformed microvillus structure might therefore indicate a general failure of ERM protein activation in the PI4KIIIalpha mutant cells. For Merlin, the closed conformation is the active form, opposite to other ERM proteins. Nevertheless, Merlin undergoes a similar conformational switch to the other ERM proteins and contains an ERM PIP₂-binding site. Given these observations, it is possible that PIP₂ binding activates and/or stabilizes Merlin in the apical membrane, and a depletion of this lipid species due to the absence of PI4KIIIalpha might directly lead to the loss of Merlin (Yan, 2011).

In summary, this study has shown that PI4KIIIalpha is required in the FCs for Merlin localization and Hippo signaling. PI4KIIIalpha mutations in the PFCs lead to a Notch signaling defect and the subsequent failure of oocyte repolarization, which are precisely the phenotypes reported for Hippo mutations in the FCs. This effect is likely to be caused by a change in lipid composition in the membrane. How the abnormal actin structures are generated in the mutant cells, and whether they have a direct role in Merlin localization, remain to be investigated (Yan, 2011).

Protein Interactions

Removal by genetic mutation of either Merlin or Expanded does not appear to affect the subcellular localization of the other, indicating that physical interaction between these proteins is not required for proper subcellular localization in tissues. Studies of ERM proteins have shown that they exist in multiple conformations that appear to regulate their ability to interact with transmembrane and other interacting proteins. Thus, the formation of homotypic and heterotypic dimers or oligomers via interactions between the conserved NH₂-terminal region (CNTR) and C-terminal domains may function to maintain ERM proteins in either an active or inactive state. Recent studies of human Merlin indicate that it can form folded monomers, homotypic dimers and heterotypic dimers with ERM proteins. The CNTR of Expanded interacts directly with the C-terminal domains of both Expanded and Merlin, suggesting that Expanded can exist in a similar range of conformations. Based on these results, it is proposed that Merlin and Expanded form a heterodimeric complex that actively suppresses proliferation. According to this model, in the heterodimer, the N-terminal domain of Merlin would be free to interact with other proteins, and therefore would be in an activated state. Consistent with this view, removal of the 35 amino acid C-terminal region of Merlin results in a constitutively active form of the protein that contains all essential Merlin functions. In addition, both Merlin and Expanded must possess growth suppression functions that are independent of each other, because the observed Mer^-;ex^- double mutant phenotype is much more severe than either mutation alone (McCartney, 2000).

Merlin, the protein product of the Neurofibromatosis type-2 gene, acts as a tumour suppressor in mice and humans. Merlin is an adaptor protein with a FERM domain and it is thought to transduce a growth-regulatory signal. However, the pathway through which Merlin acts as a tumour suppressor is poorly understood. Merlin, and its function as a negative regulator of growth, is conserved in Drosophila, where it functions with Expanded, a related FERM domain protein. Drosophila Merlin and Expanded are shown to be components of the Hippo signalling pathway, an emerging tumour-suppressor pathway. Merlin and Expanded, similar to other components of the Hippo pathway, are required for proliferation arrest and apoptosis in developing imaginal discs. Genetic and biochemical data place Merlin and Expanded upstream of Hippo and identify a pathway through which they act as tumour-suppressor genes (Hamaratoglu, 2006).

The FERM-domain protein Expanded regulates Hippo pathway activity via direct interactions with the transcriptional activator Yorkie

The Hippo kinase pathway plays a central role in growth regulation and tumor suppression from flies to man. The Hippo/Mst kinase phosphorylates and activates the NDR family kinase Warts/Lats, which phosphorylates and inhibits the transcriptional activator Yorkie/YAP. Current models place the FERM-domain protein Expanded upstream of Hippo kinase in growth control. To understand how Expanded regulates Hippo pathway activity, affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry were used to identify Expanded-binding proteins. Surprisingly it was found that Yorkie is the major Expanded-binding protein in Drosophila S2 cells. Expanded binds Yorkie at endogenous levels via WW-domain-PPxY interactions, independently of Yorkie phosphorylation at S168, which is critical for 14-3-3 binding. Expanded relocalizes Yorkie from the nucleus, abrogating its nuclear activity, and it can regulate growth downstream of warts in vivo. These data lead to a new model whereby Expanded functions downstream of Warts, in concert with 14-3-3 proteins to sequester Yorkie in the cytoplasm, inhibiting growth activity of the Hippo pathway (Badouel, 2009).

Current models propose that ex and mer function together to restrict tissue growth upstream of hpo. Mer and Ex colocalize with cortical actin in the apical region of the cell. Both genetic and physical interactions have been observed between Mer and Ex: loss of one copy of mer dominantly enhanced wing overgrowth in ex mutants. In addition, fragments of Mer and Ex protein can interact physically with each other in far-western experiments or when overexpressed in cultured cells. Clones doubly mutant for mer and ex have more dramatic overgrowth than either single mutant, and mer,ex double mutants phenocopy hpo mutants (Badouel, 2009).

However, despite the widespread acceptance that ex and mer function upstream of Hpo, some data are difficult to reconcile with ex acting strictly upstream of hpo in activation of the pathway. Genetic analysis indicates that ex is downstream of dachs, which has been shown to be directly upstream of wts in growth control. Biochemical analysis of the effects of overexpressing Mer and Ex also suggested that ex may not act simply upstream of hpo. For example, overexpression of Mer in S2 cells leads to a shift in Wts mobility, whereas overexpression of Ex does not alter Wts mobility. In vivo analysis has also suggested that mer and ex may have different roles in controlling growth and apoptosis (Badouel, 2009).

Using biochemical purification and mass-spectrometic analysis, Yki as a major Ex-binding protein in Drosophila S2 cells was identified. Binding of Yki to Ex is direct and is mediated by a WW domain-PPxY interaction. This interaction is independent of Wts-dependent phosphorylation at S168, a site previously shown to be essential for strong interactions of Yki with 14-3-3 proteins. Consistent with the biochemical analysis, it was shown that ex can act downstream of wts in the regulation of growth in eye imaginal discs and can repress the pupal lethality caused by excessive growth of wts clones. In addition, it was found that loss of hpo does not alter the ability of ex to regulate yki activity, as indicated by transcriptional assays in S2 cells, and that expression of Ex is sufficient to relocalize Yki to the cytoplasm. These data lead to a model in which Ex functions to repress Yki activity at least in part by keeping Yki out of the nucleus. Intriguingly, the Yki homolog, YAP, was first identified as a protein that binds Src family kinases at the cell membrane. Subsequent studies have focused on the role of Yki in the nucleus. Interestingly, immunohistochemical analysis reveals that a portion of Yki colocalizes with Ex at the cell membrane in Drosophila imaginal discs (Badouel, 2009).

Once Yki is phosphorylated by Wts, it can bind 14-3-3 proteins and can be transported out of the nucleus. However, since 14-3-3-bound Yki can also shuttle back into the nucleus, Ex binding Yki provides an anchor that can effectively dampen Yki activity. 14-3-3 shuttling activity results in an equilibrium of distribution of Yki between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. This equilibrium is biased in favor of Yki in the cytoplasm in the presence of Ex acting as an anchor. The presence of a tether of Yki in the cytoplasm was already suggested based on the distribution of YkiS168A between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, instead of predominantly in the nucleus (Badouel, 2009).

The strong nuclear localization of Yki is seen in Drosophila tissues only in cases of pathological stimulation of growth, such as in wts loss-of-function clones, which lead to massive overgrowth. The lack of detectable Yki nuclear localization during normal growth regulation suggests that Yki is an exceedingly potent growth regulator, and points to why there are many layers of regulation of Yki localization. The need for Ex to dampen Yki signaling in the nucleus is reflected by the increase of Cyclin E and Diap1 transcription in ex mutant clones (Badouel, 2009).

It is speculated that the regulation of the Hpo pathway by combined loss of Ex and Mer is so potent because one acts as the brake and the other controls the accelerator. Ex restricts Yki to the cytoplasm, thus blocking activity downstream, whereas Mer activates Hpo activity, thereby restricting Yki via inhibitory phosphorylation. Thus, loss of Ex on its own does not have a dramatic effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis, since the activity of the kinase cascade is regulated via Mer. Conversely, as long as Ex is present, excessive pathway activity induced by loss of Mer can be effectively modulated by the dampening activity of Ex (Badouel, 2009).

The data strongly suggest that Ex regulates Yki activity downstream of wts, by directly binding Yki and inhibiting Yki nuclear localization and transcriptional activity. The possibility cannot, however, be excluded that Ex also has additional upstream roles in regulating Hpo activity. Interestingly, overexpressed Ex does not induce apoptosis in a wts mutant background, although it can block growth, suggesting that ex is upstream of wts in apoptosis control, yet downstream of wts in growth control. Genetic dissection of this pathway is complicated by the well-documented feedback loops in the Hpo pathway: for example, Yki regulates the expression of both mer and ex. In addition, genetic evidence suggests that ex and mer function together to regulate endocytosis and growth factor signaling. Further biochemical dissection of Hpo pathway activity will be required to fully elucidate the diverse ways in which growth and apoptosis are controlled in response to various developmental and environmental signals (Badouel, 2009).

The binding of Ex to Yki is likely to be 14-3-3 independent, as mutation of S168, the predominant Wts phosphorylation site, impairs 14-3-3 binding, yet does not affect the ability of Ex to bind Yki. Thus, Ex binding to Yki could provide a pool of Yki that is nonphosphorylated and poised for release by upstream growth regulators. The binding of 14-3-3 to Yki can protect Yki from dephosphorylation. This provides a problem for the cell, since 14-3-3 must dissociate from Yki to allow it to become dephosphorylated, thus releasing a potent activator of proliferation and inhibitor of cell death, allowing it to re-enter the nucleus. The ability of Ex to bind both phosphophorylated and dephosphorylated Yki provides a mechanism by which to anchor dephosphorylated Yki in the cytoplasm (Badouel, 2009).

An appealing model is that the binding of Ex to Yki may be modulated, once in the cytoplasm, as an additional control point for the Hpo pathway. FERM-domain proteins frequently form inhibitory intramolecular associations, blocking the activity of the protein until the repression is relieved. Modifications of the Ex FERM domain or linker region could thus alter the ability of Ex to bind Yki in vivo. Ex localization at apical junctions is at least partially dependent upon the atypical cadherin Fat, which can regulate Hpo pathway activity. The recruitment of Ex complexes (directly or indirectly) to Fat may modify the ability of Ex to interact with Yki (Badouel, 2009).

The in vivo analysis indicates that the N-terminal FERM domain of Ex contains apical localization elements, whereas the C-terminal region contains junctional localization elements. Thus, each of these localization elements might be regulated independently and might impact on the ability of Ex to sequester Yki. Identification of which protein(s) Ex binds at junctions may illuminate the mechanisms by which Ex responds to external inputs to regulate Yki activity (Badouel, 2009).

All of the components of the Hpo pathway are well conserved in mammals and have been shown to have conserved functions in regulating growth. Loss of Hpo and Wts orthologs and overexpression of the Yki ortholog, YAP, have been implicated in a variety of human cancers. FERM6, the human ortholog of Ex, also regulates Hpo pathway activity in mammals. Future studies will determine if FERM6 directly binds YAP, and if disrupting YAP-FERM6 interactions is a tumor-promoting event (Badouel, 2009).

Kibra functions as a tumor suppressor protein that regulates Hippo signaling in conjunction with Merlin and Expanded

The Hippo signaling pathway regulates organ size and tissue homeostasis from Drosophila to mammals. Central to this pathway is a kinase cascade wherein Hippo (Hpo), in complex with Salvador (Sav), phosphorylates and activates Warts (Wts), which in turn phosphorylates and inactivates the Yorkie (Yki) oncoprotein, known as the YAP coactivator in mammalian cells. The FERM domain proteins Merlin (Mer) and Expanded (Ex) are upstream components that regulate Hpo activity through unknown mechanisms. This study identified Kibra as another upstream component of the Hippo signaling pathway. This study shows that Kibra functions together with Mer and Ex in a protein complex localized to the apical domain of epithelial cells, and that this protein complex regulates the Hippo kinase cascade via direct binding to Hpo and Sav. These results shed light on the mechanism of Ex and Mer function and implicate Kibra as a potential tumor suppressor with relevance to neurofibromatosis (Yu, 2010).

In multicellular organisms, cell growth, proliferation, and death must be coordinated in order to attain proper organ size during development and to maintain tissue homeostasis in adult life. Recent studies in Drosophila have led to the discovery of the Hippo signaling pathway as a key mechanism that controls organ size by impinging on cell growth, proliferation, and apoptosis. Central to the Hippo pathway is a kinase cascade comprised of four tumor suppressors, including the Ste20-like kinase Hippo (Hpo) and its regulatory protein Salvador (Sav), the NDR family kinase Warts (Wts) and its regulatory protein Mats. The Hpo-Sav complex phosphorylates and activates the Wts-Mats complex, which in turn phosphorylates and inactivates the oncoprotein Yki, which normally functions as a coactivator for the TEAD/TEF family transcription factor Scalloped (Sd). Recent studies have also implicated the atypical cadherin Fat (Ft) as well as the membrane-associated FERM-domain proteins Expanded (Ex) and Merlin (Mer) as upstream components of the Hippo pathway. How these proteins are biochemically linked to the Hippo kinase cascade remains largely unknown, although Ex can at least partially regulate the Hippo pathway by directly binding and sequestering Yki in the cytoplasm. Ft differs from Ex, Mer, and core components of the Hippo kinase cascade in that, besides tissue growth, Ft also regulates planar cell polarity (PCP), for which it interacts with another cadherin Dachsous (Ds). Most recently, it was shown that a gradient of Ds activity in imaginal discs can modulate Hippo-mediated growth regulation, thus potentially linking PCP to the Hippo kinase cascade, although the biochemical mechanism of this linkage remains to be determined (Yu, 2010).

The physiological function of the Hippo pathway is best understood in Drosophila imaginal discs, where inactivation of the Hippo pathway tumor suppressors, or overexpression of the Yki oncoprotein, results in tissue overgrowth characterized by excessive cell proliferation, diminished apoptosis, and increased transcription of Hippo pathway target genes such as the cell death inhibitor diap1 and the microRNA bantam, as well as ex and mer as part of a negative feedback regulatory loop. Recent studies further implicated the Hippo pathway as a conserved mechanism of organ size control and tissue homeostasis in mammals. Thus, the mammalian homologs of Hpo (Mst1/2), Sav (WW45), Wts (Lats1/2), and Yki (YAP) constitute an analogous kinase cascade, and transgenic overexpression of YAP or inactivation of Mst1/2 led to massive organomegaly and rapid progression to tumorigenesis. Furthermore, NF2, the mammalian homolog of mer, is a well-established tumor suppressor gene whose mutations lead to neurofibromatosis (Yu, 2010 and references therein).

Besides its prominent role in controlling imaginal disc growth, the Hippo pathway is required during Drosophila oogenesis for the proper maturation of posterior follicle cells (PFCs). In the absence of Hippo signaling, the PFCs fail to undergo a Notch-mediated mitotic cycle-endocycle switch and accumulate in extra layers of follicular epithelium. The PFC maturation defects, in turn, lead to a disruption of the anterior-posterior (AP) polarity of the underlying oocyte, which manifests itself as mislocalization of the oocyte nucleus and AP axis determinants such as the RNA-binding protein Staufen (Stau). Interestingly, the oocyte polarity defect is observed in mutants for components of the Hippo kinase cascade as well as ex and mer, but not ft, suggesting that the canonical Hippo pathway may integrate different signals in different developmental contexts (Yu, 2010).

This study identifies Kibra as an upstream component of the Hippo pathway. Loss of kibra leads to oogenesis defects, imaginal disc overgrowth, and aberrant gene expression characteristic of defective Hippo signaling. Kibra functions together with Mer and Ex in an apical protein complex, which, through direct binding to the Hpo-Sav complex, regulates the Hippo kinase cascade and thus Yki phosphorylation. These findings uncover an important missing link in the Hippo signaling pathway and shed light on the molecular mechanism of the Ex and Mer tumor suppressor proteins (Yu, 2010).

In a genetic screen for oocyte polarity mutants based on FRT/FLP-induced mitotic clones in follicle cells, four lethal P element insertion lines on chromosome 3R were identified that caused mislocalization of Stau-GFP and Stau to the center of the oocyte when the PFCs were made homozygous mutant for the P element insertions. This polarity defect was observed with variable penetrance depending on the specific P element line analyzed, likely due to their hypomorphic nature. These lethal lines (264/09, 1156/7, f06952, and EP3494) fail to complement each other and all carry a P element insertion near the 5' UTR or within the first intron of CG33967. CG33967 encodes a 1288 amino acid protein that shares 39% identity with KIBRA, a cytoplasmic protein named after its predominant expression in kidney and brain in humans. Both CG33967 and KIBRA contain two N-terminal WW domains and one C-terminal C2 domain. CG33967 is referred to as kibra to distinguish it from its human ortholog KIBRA (Yu, 2010).

This study identifies Kibra as a tumor suppressor and an essential component of the Hippo pathway. A model is proposed in which Kibra functions together with Mer and Ex in an apical protein complex to transduce growth-regulatory signals to the Hpo-Sav complex, which, through the canonical Hippo kinase cascade, controls Yki phosphorylation and target gene transcription. Of note, the findings do not exclude the possibility that Kibra, Ex, or Mer may interact with additional Hippo pathway components besides Hpo-Sav, especially given the recent report that Ex can directly bind Yki. How Kibra, Ex, and Mer function together to integrate upstream signals remains to be determined. One possibility is that these proteins function redundantly in receiving signals from the same upstream regulator(s). Alternatively, each protein may be regulated by distinct upstream regulator(s) (Yu, 2010).

A commonly used assay for Hippo signaling in Drosophila S2 cells involves examining mobility shifts of the Wts protein on SDS-PAGE. Given its large size and that not all protein phosphorylation causes discernable mobility shift on SDS-PAGE, this assay is less sensitive in detecting Wts phosphorylation than the phospho-specific antibody used in the present study. Indeed, overexpression of Ex in S2 cells has no effect on Wts mobility, yet this study demonstrates that Ex induces robust Wts phosphorylation at its hydrophobic motif. The fact that this hydrophobic motif is a well-established direct phosphorylation site by Hpo homologs in mammalian cells further suggests that Ex, as well as Mer and Kibra, regulates Wts through the canonical Hippo kinase cascade. Indeed, it was found that Ex-induced Wts phosphorylation is Hpo dependent. These results are not incompatible with recent report that Ex can also regulate the Hippo pathway in a kinase-independent manner. Using a well-established assay for Yki transcriptional activity, this study found that while Ex, Mer plus Kibra, or Hpo could all suppress the activity of a Yki-Gal4 fusion protein, only Ex was able to suppress the activity of a Yki-Gal4 fusion protein in which all the possible Wts-phosphorylation sites are mutated. These observations are consistent with the view that Ex can regulate the Hippo pathway through both Wts-dependent and -independent mechanisms (Yu, 2010).

A comparison of the loss-of-function phenotypes of mer, ex, and kibra in egg chambers and imaginal discs reveals tissue-specific differences in the relative contribution of each gene to Hippo pathway regulation. For example, loss of ex alone, but not mer or kibra, is sufficient to cause robust diap1 upregulation in imaginal discs, suggesting that ex has a more essential role in diap1 transcriptional regulation. However, the converse is true in the ovary, where loss of mer or kibra results in stronger oocyte polarity and Notch signaling defects than loss of ex. In fact, the severity of mer or kibra mutant phenotypes in oogenesis are comparable to those of core components of the Hippo pathway such as hpo and sav, even though the former display much milder overgrowth than the latter in imaginal discs. Perhaps the most extreme case of tissue-specific requirement is provided by the ft tumor suppressor gene, which is required for Hippo pathway regulation in the imaginal discs but dispensable in developing egg chambers. While the underlying molecular basis remains to be determined, such tissue-specific requirements suggest that the core Hippo kinase cascade may function as a signal integrator of multiple inputs in a dynamic and versatile manner, and that additional cell surface receptors besides Ft may signal to the Hippo pathway (Yu, 2010).

Considerable efforts have been directed at identifying the key signaling pathways regulated by the NF2/Merlin tumor suppressor protein. These investigations have led to the identification of a number of effector mechanisms downstream of NF2/Merlin, such as growth control pathways mediated by Ras, Rac, STAT, or PI3K, contact inhibition mediated by cell surface receptors or adherens junctions, and endocytosis/degradation of various membrane proteins. The recent identification of Mer as an upstream regulator of Hpo in Drosophila provides yet another plausible mechanism through which Mer functions as a tumor suppressor protein. The identification of Kibra as a regulator of the Hippo pathway further strengthens the case for a functional link between NF2/Mer and the Hippo pathway. The observation that NF2/Mer and KIBRA can synergistically stimulate Lats1/2 phosphorylation in mammalian cells not only supports an NF2/Mer-Hippo connection, but further implicates KIBRA as a potential tumor suppressor in humans with relevance to neurofibromatosis (Yu, 2010).

The identification of Kibra as an upstream regulator of the Hippo pathway has implications for understanding memory-related functions of the human KIBRA gene. Besides its well-established roles in growth control, the Hippo pathway is also required for differentiation and morphogenesis of certain postmitotic neurons in Drosophila. It is speculated that modulation of the Hippo pathway may influence the growth or differentiation of memory-related neuronal structures, a hypothesis that can be directly tested by genetic manipulation of Hippo signaling activity in animal models (Yu, 2010).

Kibra is a regulator of the Salvador/Warts/Hippo signaling network

The Salvador (Sav)/Warts (Wts)/Hippo (Hpo) (SWH) network controls tissue growth by inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis. The core of the pathway consists of a MST and LATS family kinase cascade that ultimately phosphorylates and inactivates the YAP/Yorkie (Yki) transcription coactivator. The FERM domain proteins Merlin (Mer) and Expanded (Ex) represent one mode of upstream regulation controlling pathway activity. This study identified Kibra as a member of the SWH network. Kibra, which colocalizes and associates with Mer and Ex, also promotes the Mer/Ex association. Furthermore, the Kibra/Mer association is conserved in human cells. Finally, Kibra complexes with Wts and kibra depletion in tissue culture cells induces a marked reduction in Yki phosphorylation without affecting the Yki/Wts interaction. It is suggested that Kibra is part of an apical scaffold that promotes SWH pathway activity (Genevet, 2010).

An in vivo screen was performed in the fly wing in order to identify genes implicated in growth control. Transgenic flies bearing RNA interference (RNAi) constructs generated by the Vienna Drosophila RNAi Centre (VDRC) were crossed to the hedgehog-GAL4 (hh-GAL4) driver, leading to target gene silencing in the posterior compartment of the wing. A collection was screened of 12,000 lines targeting genes conserved between Drosophila and mammals. Expressing an RNAi line directed against kibra induced overgrowth of the posterior wing compartment compared to control flies. This phenotype was also observed upon wts depletion. Driving the same kibra RNAi line in the eye also led to increased organ size, similarly to a wts RNAi line. Adult eye sections revealed that kibra knockdown retinas present an excess of interommatidial cells (IOCs). The IOCs, the last population of cells to differentiate in the eye primordium, give rise to the secondary and tertiary pigment cells that optically isolate the ommatidia in the compound eye from each other. Extra IOCs are produced during normal development but are then eliminated by apoptosis at the pupal stage to give rise to the adult lattice. The presence of extra IOCs is a hallmark of SWH network loss of function, which reduces retinal apoptosis, as seen in wts RNAi adult eye sections. Thus, depletion of kibra elicits a similar phenotype to SWH network mutants, suggesting a potential role for Kibra in Hpo signaling (Genevet, 2010).

To study kibra loss of function, the kibra^Δ32 allele loss of function allele was generated by imprecise excision of the EP747 transposon. This deletion allele, which removes the translation initiation site, is homozygous lethal and may be a null allele for kibra. kibra^Δ32 FLP/FRT mutant clones in 40 hr after-puparium-formation (APF) retinas present extra IOCs, similarly to what was observed in adult eyes with kibra knockdown. Duplication of bristles or missing bristles can also be observed. Apoptotic indexes were determined during the retinal apoptosis wave (28 hr APF) in pupal retinas containing kibra mutant clones stained with an anti-active Caspase-3 antibody. kibra mutant tissue presents a reduced apoptotic index compared with wild-type (WT) areas in the same retinas. Thus, extra IOCs persist in kibra mutant clones as a result of decreased developmental apoptosis (Genevet, 2010).

The proliferation rate of kibra mutant cells was assessed in imaginal discs, the larval precursors to the adult appendages. By using the FLP/FRT system under the control of the heat-shock promoter, kibra mutant cells and their WT sister clones were generated through single recombination events from heterozygous mother cells. After several rounds of divisions, the sizes of mutant clones (no GFP) and WT twin spots (two copies of GFP) were compared, allowing estimation of the relative proliferation rates of mutant versus WT cells. The total kibra clone area is 1.57-fold larger than the control twin spot area, compared to a ratio of 0.98 when both clones and twin spots are WT, indicating that kibra^Δ32 mutant cells grow 1.6 times faster than WT cells (Genevet, 2010).

In addition to cell cycle rates, the timing of cell cycle exit can readily be measured in the eye disc, where cell divisions follow a spatially determined pattern. During the third larval instar, the morphogenetic furrow, a wave of differentiation, sweeps the eye disc from posterior to anterior. Anterior to the furrow cells still proliferate asynchronously, while in the furrow cells synchronize in G1. Immediately posterior to the furrow, cells enter a final round of synchronous S phases, the second mitotic wave (SMW). Posterior to the SMW, most cells permanently exit the cell cycle. Thus, in WT discs, no S phases can be observed posterior to the SMW. As expected, hpo mutant cells fail to exit from the cell cycle in a timely manner and present ectopic EdU-positive staining posterior to the SMW. kibra mutant cells exhibit a less pronounced but similar phenotype. Thus, kibra mutant tissues have a proliferative advantage and an apoptosis defect, consistent with an involvement in the SWH network. The overgrowth defect appears more subtle than that of core pathway members such as wts and is more akin to upstream regulators (e.g., ex and mer) (Genevet, 2010).

Several transcriptional targets of the SWH network have been identified, such as the Drosophila Inhibitor of Apoptosis 1 (DIAP1) gene, the cell cycle regulator cycE, the miRNA bantam, as well as ex. In kibra mutant wing or eye discs, no strong change in DIAP1, CycE, or ex-lacZ reporter levels could be detected. Since overgrowth of kibra mutant cells in the wing is subtle compared to wts mutants, it is possible that Kibra plays a relatively minor role in SWH signaling in the wing. Accordingly, using an anti-Kibra antibody, it was noted that Kibra staining in the wing disc is weak and consists of a punctate apical staining which can clearly be observed when kibra is overexpressed in a stripe of cells. Thus, the extent to which Kibra is required may vary in different tissues (Genevet, 2010).

Ovarian posterior follicle cells (PFCs) are particularly sensitive to SWH loss of function, leading to a study the kibra^Δ32 phenotype in the ovary. First, it was noted that Kibra protein levels are higher in follicle cells than in the wing discs. Kibra staining is mainly apical and is severely reduced in kibra^Δ32 clones. Similarly to hpo or wts loss of function, kibra loss of function in the PFCs induces an upregulation of the ex-lacZ reporter. hpo or wts mutant PFCs also show a misregulation of the Notch (N) pathway and ectopic cell divisions. The N target Hindsight (Hnt) is normally repressed in all follicle cells up to stage 6 and switched on from stage 7 to stage 10B. Cut, which is repressed by Hnt, presents an opposite pattern of expression. In kibra mutant PFCs from stage 7-10B egg chambers, Hnt expression is lost, while Cut is ectopically expressed. This indicates that N signaling is downregulated in kibra mutant PFCs. Loss of kibra also leads to perturbation of epithelial integrity, as mutant PFCs show an accumulation of the apical polarity protein aPKC and the N receptor as well as multilayering of the follicular epithelium. Ectopic mitotic divisions are also observed in PFCs clones after stage 6, as detected by phospho-histone H3 (PH3) staining. Together, these phenotypes are identical to those observed in hpo or wts loss of function, suggesting that Kibra is indeed a member of the SWH network (Genevet, 2010).

To further explore the role of Kibra in the SWH network, genetic interaction and epistasis experiments were performed. Overexpressing kibra in the eye under the GMR (Glass Multimer Reporter) promoter elicits the formation of a small rough eye with frequent ommatidial fusions. This phenotype can be partially rescued by removing one copy of the hpo gene. In contrast, overexpressing kibra could not rescue the hpo-like overgrowth phenotype induced by yki overexpression, suggesting that Kibra may be an upstream regulator of the pathway (Genevet, 2010).

To conduct epistasis experiments between kibra and yki, the MARCM system was used to generate clones of mutant cells while simultaneously overexpressing or depleting other pathway components. MARCM clones expressing yki RNAi generated with eyFLP lead to the formation of a normal eye, because yki-depleted cells are eliminated by apoptosis and replaced by WT cells. As expected, eyFLP kibra MARCM clones cause eye overgrowth. This overgrowth is rescued by yki depletion in the mutant cells, indicating that the kibra overgrowth phenotype is yki dependent. Furthermore, overexpressing kibra in the eye under the GMR promoter induces apoptosis in third instar eye discs, which is suppressed by loss of hpo. Together, these epistasis experiments are consistent with Kibra being a member of the SWH network acting upstream of Yki and Hpo (Genevet, 2010).

Genetic interactions between kibra, mer, and ex, upstream members of the SWH network, were then investigated. Expressing a kibra, an ex, or a mer RNAi line in the eye under the GMR promoter induces eye overgrowth. Combined depletion of either Ex/Kibra or Mer/Kibra shows stronger phenotypes than individual depletion of these proteins. The MARCM technique was used to evaluate epistatic relationships between those three genes. hsFLP MARCM clones of various genotypes were generated and scored according to the severity of the wing overgrowth phenotypes, with type 0 representing normal wings and type 4 the strongest overgrowth. Overexpressing ex or mer in kibra mutant clones significantly rescues the overgrowth of kibra mutant clones. Reciprocally, kibra overexpression was also able to suppress the ex overgrowth phenotype. Thus, a strict epistatic relationship between kibra, ex, and mer could not be determined, consistent with a model whereby kibra, ex, and mer cooperate to control SWH pathway activity (Genevet, 2010).

As well as being an upstream regulator of the SWH network, ex is also one of its transcriptional targets, as are other upstream regulators (e.g., mer, four-jointed, dachsous). Since epistasis experiments place Kibra at the level of Mer and Ex, it was of interest to test whether this is also the case for kibra. Kibra levels were highly upregulated in mer;ex or hpo clones, showing an apical localization. The same is true in hpo clones in follicle cells. Similarly, hpo-depleted cultured Drosophila S2R+ cells have increased Kibra levels. To determine whether kibra is a transcriptional SWH network target, quantitative RT-PCR experiments were performed on yki-overexpressing and control wing imaginal discs. As expected, ex mRNA levels were increased in yki-expressing discs compared to control discs. Interestingly, kibra mRNA levels were also upregulated in yki-expressing discs, confirming that kibra is a Yki transcriptional target and suggesting the existence of a possible negative feedback loop regulating Kibra expression (Genevet, 2010).

Because hpo clones present increased levels of Kibra as well as Mer and Ex, these constitute a good system to evaluate the colocalization of those proteins. Indeed, Kibra colocalizes with Mer in the wing disc. As expected, Mer and Ex also colocalize. Thus, Kibra, Mer, and Ex colocalize apically in imaginal disc cells, but are dispensable for each other's apical sorting, because Kibra is still apical in mer;ex clones and Mer/Ex are normally localized in kibra clones (Genevet, 2010).

Because Kibra colocalizes with Mer/Ex, a possible association between those proteins was examined by conducting coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays in S2R+ cells. Kibra was found to co-IP with Ex and Mer, but not with Hpo or with the negative regulator of Hpo, dRASSF. Kibra possesses two WW domains, which are predicted to mediate protein-protein interactions by binding to PPXY motifs. Furthermore, the first WW domain of human KIBRA was shown to recognize the consensus motif RXPPXY in vitro. In flies, Mer does not contain any PPXY sites, while Ex has two PPXY sites (P⁷⁸⁶PPY and P¹²⁰³PPY) and an RXPPXY site (R⁸⁴²DPPPY). The association between Kibra and Ex was investigated by mutating amino acids that are known to be required for WW domains and PPXY sites to interact. A Kibra protein mutant for its first WW domain (P85A) could no longer co-IP WT Ex. Reciprocally, WT Kibra could not co-IP an Ex protein deficient for its RXPPXY site (P845A). Thus, Kibra associates with Ex through its first WW domain and the Ex RXPPXY motif (Genevet, 2010).

Because Kibra complexes with Ex and a Yki/Ex interaction has recently been described, attempts were made to determine whether Kibra can affect Yki activity. S2R+ cells were treated with RNAi against several SWH pathway components, and Yki phophorylation on Ser168 was monitored by western blotting. The phosphorylation of Yki by Wts at Ser168 leads to Yki inactivation and sequestration in the cytoplasm, where it has been reported to bind Ex, Wts, Hpo, and 14.3.3. lacZ RNAi-treated cells show a high basal level of phospho-Yki (P-Yki). As expected, Yki phosphorylation is abolished when Wts is depleted, and mildly reduced when the Wts cofactor Mats is depleted. In wts treated RNAi cells, a Yki downward shift can also be observed using a pan-Yki antibody. ex RNAi treatment has only a mild effect on P-Yki levels. Interestingly, kibra depletion leads to a marked reduction in P-Yki. When depleted in conjunction with ex, the P-Yki signal becomes even further reduced (Genevet, 2010).

This suggests that Kibra and Ex are required for Wts activity on Yki, which prompted an investigation of whether Kibra could associate with Wts. Co-IP assays reveal that Kibra interacts with Wts. Wts does not seem to compete with Ex for Kibra association, because it could still complex with a form of Kibra mutant for its first WW domain. Because Kibra associates with Wts and Ex interacts with Yki, whether Wts requires Kibra/Ex to bind Yki was investigated. Endogenous IPs between Yki and Wts were performed in S2 cells treated with various dsRNAs. In these conditions, the effect of kibra and ex depletion on Yki phosphorylation can also be observed. In control cells, Wts binding to Yki is detected after immunoprecipitating Yki. This endogenous interaction is unaffected by the individual or combined depletion of ex and kibra. These results suggest that Ex and Kibra are required to activate the SWH pathway by nucleating an active Hpo/Wts kinase cassette, rather than promoting the Wts/Yki interaction (Genevet, 2010).

These data identify Kibra as a regulator of the SWH network that associates with Ex and Mer, with which it is colocalized apically and transcriptionally coregulated. Given that the apical surface of epithelial cells is instrumental in both cell-cell signaling and tissue morphogenesis, it is speculated that Kibra may cooperate with Ex and Mer to transduce an extracellular signal, or relay information about epithelial architecture, via the SWH network, to control tissue growth and morphogenesis (Genevet, 2010).

Recent data have suggested that an apical scaffold machinery containing Hpo, Wts, and Ex recruits Yki to the apical membrane, facilitating its inhibitory phosphorylation by Wts. Since Kibra associates with Ex and is also apically localized, it is hypothesized that Kibra is also part of this scaffold and participates in nucleating an active Hpo/Wts complex and recruiting Yki for inactivation. This view is supported by the finding that Kibra complexes with Wts and that combined depletion of Kibra and Ex leads to a strong decrease in Yki phosphorylation, but does not disrupt the Wts/Yki interaction. The data also suggest that the importance of Kibra may be tissue-specific since robust phenotypes were observed in ovaries and hemocyte-derived S2R+ cells, but weaker effects in imaginal discs. Thus, considering the relative levels of expression of Ex, Mer, and Kibra may be important in determining pathway activation. Finally, since mammalian KIBRA complexes with the NF2/MER tumor suppressor, these findings raise the possibility that human KIBRA may contribute to tumor suppression in human neurofibromas and potentially other tumors (Genevet, 2010).

The WW domain protein Kibra acts upstream of Hippo in Drosophila

The conserved Hippo kinase pathway plays a pivotal role in organ size control and tumor suppression by restricting proliferation and promoting apoptosis. Whereas the function of the core kinase cascade, consisting of the serine/threonine kinases Hippo and Warts, in phosphorylating and thereby inactivating the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie is well established, much less is known about the upstream events that regulate Hippo signaling activity. The FERM domain proteins Expanded and Merlin appear to represent two different signaling branches that feed into the Hippo pathway. Signaling by the atypical cadherin Fat may act via Expanded, but how Merlin is regulated has remained elusive. This study shows that the WW domain protein Kibra is a Hippo signaling component upstream of Hippo and Merlin. Kibra acts synergistically with Expanded, and it physically interacts with Merlin. Thus, Kibra predominantly acts in the Merlin branch upstream of the core kinase cascade to regulate Hippo signaling (Baumgartner, 2010).

Overexpression of Drosophila Kibra in the developing eye has been shown to decrease the size of the adult organ. Four different loss-of-function alleles of Kibra were generated to define its function in growth control. Deletion of the first exon (harboring the translational start site) by imprecise excision of a P element resulted in the alleles Kibra¹ and Kibra². Kibra³, a mutation in the initiating ATG, was generated by means of an EMS reversion mutagenesis of the EP-mediated Kibra overexpression phenotype. Finally, the entire Kibra locus was removed by the hybrid element insertion (HEI) technique. All alleles were lethal when homozygous and failed to complement each other but were complemented by the precise P element excision used as a control throughout this study. All mutants displayed the same growth phenotypes, and homozygous mutant animals died as first-instar larvae. It is concluded that all Kibra alleles are genetically null (Baumgartner, 2010).

Kibra mutant heads were enlarged in comparison to controls. Similarly, wings containing posterior compartments largely mutant for Kibra were larger than control wings. The presence of a UAS-Kibra overexpression construct, without any Gal4 driver, rescued the lethality of Kibra homozygous mutant flies as well as the size defects of Kibra mutant organs, proving that the growth alterations are caused by the loss of Kibra function. Thus, Kibra is a general regulator of growth that is required to restrict organ size (Baumgartner, 2010).

To determine the cause of the Kibra mutant overgrowth phenotypes, a clonal analysis in wing imaginal discs was performed. Clones of Kibra mutant cells were larger than their corresponding wild-type sister clones. The number of cells per clone was increased in Kibra mutant clones compared to wild-type clones but not to the same extent as the clone size. However, FACS analysis revealed that cell size was unchanged in Kibra mutant cells, suggesting a change in cellular architecture in cells devoid of Kibra function. It is concluded that Kibra mutant clones in the wing imaginal disc were enlarged because Kibra mutant cells exhibit a proliferative advantage over wild-type cells (Baumgartner, 2010).

Tangential sections were analyzed of mosaic compound eyes consisting of Kibra mutant cells surrounded by heterozygous cells. The mutant ommatidia were normally structured and the different cell types properly differentiated, but the interommatidial regions were enlarged compared to the control. The increased distance between mutant ommatidia was due to more cells, because clones of Kibra mutant cells in the pupal retina displayed an increase in the number of interommatidial cells. Supernumerary interommatidial cells are a hallmark of inactivation of the Hippo pathway. Whereas a complete loss of Hippo signaling causes a pronounced excess of interommatidial cells, a mild extra interommatidial cell phenotype is observed in mutants that reduce but do not abrogate Hippo signaling, such as ex or Mer (Baumgartner, 2010).

A reduction in Hippo signaling activity results in extra interommatidial cells because the developmental apoptosis in pupal retinae is largely eliminated. Conversely, overexpression of hpo or ex induces apoptosis in third instar eye discs. Overexpression of Kibra in clones in the wing imaginal disc reduced clone size. Kibra-overexpressing clones contained fewer cells than control clones. To investigate whether overexpression of Kibra induces apoptosis, Kibra overexpression clones were generated in the third instar eye disc by using the Gene-Switch system. Indeed, the Kibra-overexpressing clones located anterior to the morphogenetic furrow (MF) showed an increase in programmed cell death as judged by staining for cleaved Caspase-3 and TUNEL staining, suggesting that overexpression of Kibra induces inappropriate apoptosis of proliferating cells. Consistently, co-overexpression of Diap1, a direct Yorkie transcriptional target, partially rescued the small eye phenotype associated with Kibra overexpression. Co-overexpression of CycE, another target of the Hippo pathway, also resulted in a partial rescue of the small eye. The size of Kibra-overexpressing eyes was further restored by concomitant overexpression of Diap1 and CycE. These results suggest that the effects elicited by Kibra overexpression are at least partly due to a reduction in the expression of the Hippo pathway target genes Diap1 and CycE (Baumgartner, 2010).

The striking similarities of the Kibra, ex, and Mer phenotypes prompted a genetic test of whether Kibra restricts tissue size via Hippo signaling. Interaction studies were started at the level of the transcriptional coactivator yki, which induces target genes promoting cell proliferation and cell survival and is inactivated by Hippo signaling. Three lines of evidence suggest that Kibra acts via inactivation of Yki. First, the coexpression of Kibra and yki during eye development suppressed the eye size reduction caused by Kibra and resulted in the same overgrowth phenotype as observed in eyes overexpressing yki alone. Second, the growth advantage of Kibra mutant cells was completely abolished by the concomitant loss of yki function. Third, a pupal lethal hypomorphic combination of Kibra alleles was rescued to viability by removal of a single copy of yki (Baumgartner, 2010).

To determine whether (and at which level) Kibra acts in the Hippo pathway to inactivate Yki, a series of epistasis tests were performed. It was found that the loss-of-function phenotypes of hpo, sav, and wts were epistatic to the Kibra overexpression phenotype, indicating that Kibra acts upstream of Hpo (Baumgartner, 2010).

Next, interaction with the upstream components Ex and Mer was tested. Overexpression of ex in a Kibra mutant background resulted in an intermediate phenotype. Vice versa, overexpression of Kibra also yielded an additive effect in an ex mutant head. Conversely, Kibra overexpression failed to reduce organ size in a Mer mutant head, indicating that Kibra requires Mer to exert its function. The eyFlp/FRT recombination system (without cell lethal) was used to generate mosaic animals with heads largely homozygous for ex and Mer mutations, as well as ex Kibra and Mer Kibra double mutations, respectively. Both ex and Mer mosaic heads showed only mild overgrowth. Strikingly, pupae with mosaic heads doubly mutant for ex and Kibra did not eclose, and normal head structures were displaced by overgrown tissue. In contrast, flies with Mer Kibra mosaic heads were viable. However, Mer Kibra double mutant clones showed stronger overgrowth than Mer clones. Reducing ex function during eye development by the expression of a hairpin RNAi construct did not alter the wild-type eye size but resulted in a severe enhancement of the Kibra loss-of-function phenotype, and the resulting eyes resembled those of hpo mutants. Reducing Mer function caused subtle overgrowth but enhanced the Kibra mutant phenotype much less (Baumgartner, 2010).

Whereas single mutants for ex and Mer cause a mild overgrowth phenotype, ex Mer double mutants display strong synergistic effects, suggesting that the two FERM domain proteins act in separate branches to activate Hippo signaling. These findings suggest that Kibra acts primarily upstream of Mer. However, since Mer Kibra double mutant clones show stronger overgrowth than Mer mutant clones and a reduction of Mer function enhances the Kibra loss-of-function phenotype, Kibra also contributes to Mer-independent regulation of Yki activity (Baumgartner, 2010).

To confirm that Kibra acts via Hippo signaling, whether Kibra mutant clones upregulated the expression of a Diap1 enhancer element (diap1-GFP4.3) that had been published to be a minimal Hippo responsive element (HRE) was tested. A pronounced upregulation of diap1-GFP4.3 was evident in clones of hpo mutant cells posterior and, to a weaker extent, anterior to the MF in eye imaginal discs. Cells lacking Kibra function also upregulated diap1-GFP4.3 expression, although to a lesser degree and with restriction to the differentiating tissue posterior to the MF. Clones of ex mutant cells, in resemblance to hpo clones, upregulated diap1-GFP4.3 strongly behind and somewhat weaker before the MF, whereas Mer mutant cells, like Kibra mutant cells, upregulated diap1-GFP4.3 expression weakly and solely posterior to the MF. Thus, the loss of Kibra results in an upregulation of a Hippo signaling reporter gene. The similar response of diap1-GFP4.3 to loss of Kibra or Mer suggests that Kibra and Mer act in the same way on Hippo signaling to regulate the HRE (Baumgartner, 2010).

This study provides genetic and biochemical evidence that the WW domain protein Kibra is a Hippo signaling component. Several lines of evidence indicate that Kibra acts predominantly in the Mer branch. First, the mild overgrowth phenotype caused by loss of Kibra function is akin to the Mer phenotype. Second, genetic epistasis experiments place Kibra upstream of Mer. Third, the effects of Kibra and Mer loss-of-function on a reporter for Hippo signaling activity are very similar. Fourth, Kibra and Mer synergise with ex in a similar fashion. Fifth, Kibra physically interacts with Mer. However, since the genetic analysis of Kibra also revealed a synergism with Mer, Kibra also acts on Yki activity in a Mer-independent manner (Baumgartner, 2010).

FERM domain proteins, such as Mer, have been suggested to connect membrane proteins with the underlying cortical cytoskeleton in order to integrate signals from the membrane and initiate intracellular signaling cascades. Thus, it is conceivable that Mer, together with as yet unknown proteins, assembles downstream cytoplasmic components of the Hippo pathway at the membrane and that controlled assembly and stabilization of such multiprotein complexes regulates the activity of the Hippo kinase cascade. In such a scenario, adaptor proteins providing multiple protein-protein interaction domains are of special interest (Baumgartner, 2010).

The WW domain protein Kibra binds Mer and could enable signaling events at the membrane/cytoskeleton interface that activate the Hpo kinase cascade. Since a truncated Kibra protein lacking the WW domains interacts more fiercely with Mer, it is likely that the physical association of Kibra and Mer is modulated by binding of other factors to the WW domains of Kibra (Baumgartner, 2010).

Interestingly, the effects caused by the concomitant loss of ex and Kibra functions are more severe than those elicited by mutated Hippo signaling core components. In addition to massively overgrowing, clones of ex Kibra double mutant cells round up, a behavior that was never observed in clones of hpo mutant cells. Furthermore, the diap1-GFP4.3 reporter indicates higher Yki activity in proliferating ex Kibra mutant eye imaginal disc cells as compared to hpo mutant cells. It thus appears that Yki activity is unleashed in cells lacking both ex and Kibra functions. Since Ex has been shown to directly bind Yki, it is tempting to speculate that Kibra participates in a distinct (Mer-independent) mechanism to prevent nuclear Yki localization (Baumgartner, 2010).

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

Larval

Antibodies generated against the Ex protein were used to detect its expression in imaginal discs. The Ex protein is detected by early third instar. Expression is relatively uniform throughout leg discs, but is intensified in the presumptive wing pouch relative to elsewhere in wing disc. Sections of stained mature third instar discs show that the protein is localized to the extreme apical cell surface. EX mRNA also appears to be apically localized in whole-mount and sectioned discs that were hybridized with digoxigenin-labelled probe from the first ex exon (Boedigheimer, 1993).

The Drosophila expanded gene encodes a product that shares homology with the Protein 4.1 family of proteins, many of which are enriched at specific lateral cell junctions and the apical cellular domain. Ex colocalizes with actin in the apical domain of imaginal disc epithelial cells, where it partially overlaps the distribution of phosphotyrosine (PY)-containing proteins. This suggests that Ex is present in or associated with adherens junctions (Boedigheimer, 1997).

Effects of Mutation or Deletion

The expanded gene was first identified by a spontaneous mutation that causes broad wings. An enhancer-trap insertion has been identified within expanded and it was used to generate additional mutations, including one null allele. expanded is an essential gene, necessary for proper growth control of imaginal discs and, when mutant, causes either hyperplasia or degeneration depending on the disc. Wing overgrowth in expanded hypermorphs is limited to specific regions along the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axis (Boedigheimer, 1993).

The ex mutant phenotype is incompletely penetrant and expressive. Weak mutant alleles, such as ex¹, generally show only a broad wing phenotype; occasionally, the wings have an upward or downward arc. Intermediate mutants such as ex⁶⁹⁷ or mutant combinations such as ex^l(2)ey/ex⁶⁹⁷ display phenotypes affecting legs, thorax, head and wings. Occasionally, entire legs are missing, but more commonly, legs are kinked or have swollen distal tarsal segments, with completely separated internal vesicles of unknown origin and composition. In intermediate mutant combinations such as ex^l(2)ey/ex⁶⁹⁷, about 50% of the individuals display leg defects. In these flies, only one or two legs are typically affected. The thoracic defects include duplication of scutellar bristles and sensilla on the wing. Defects in the head capsule are variable. Eyes are reduced in size and occasionally split. Duplicated antennae or vibrissae occur in about 50% of ex^l(2)ey/ex⁶⁹⁷ heterozygotes, apparently at the expense of peripheral eye tissue. In addition to being broad, the wings are arced down and have incomplete crossveins (Boedigheimer, 1993).

Compared to the intermediate alleles, ex^e1 pharate adults display a highly penetrant and expressive phenotype. ex^e1 mutants survive until the pharate adult stage and show massive head, wing and leg defects. All ex^e1 pharate adults have leg defects and usually all legs of an individual are defective. Some legs are entirely missing, but the most common defect is missing distal tarsal segments including the claw organs. The legs usually terminate beyond the second tarsal segment. The remaining proximal tarsal segments have supernumerary bristles. The antennae are enlarged and are missing aristae, but otherwise appear normal. The reduction of eye tissue seen in intermediate mutant alleles is exaggerated in ex^e1 pharate adults, such that eyes fail to differentiate ommatidia. Unlike intermediate mutants, antennal duplications do not generally occur (Boedigheimer, 1993).

To understand better the function of ex, the phenotype of null mutants was examined at earlier stages. No visible defects are seen in ex^e1 mutant embryos and they hatch at a rate comparable to wild type. The first obvious defects occur in the imaginal discs at about mid-third instar, by which time the wing disc is noticeably enlarged. The wing disc continues to grow, mainly in the presumptive wing pouch region and, by day five, begins to form an extra fold approximately at the anterior-posterior compartment boundary. Growth continues during an extended larval period (2-3 extra days in uncrowded conditions), usually until the wing disc reaches double the wild-type size, although occasionally continuing until it is many times the size of wild type. Overgrowth also occurs in the haltere disc. In the eye-proper and the leg discs, degeneration is visible. The eye region of the eye-antennal disc is largely atrophied, presumably due to a lack of ommatidial development, as evidenced by the lack of a morphogenic furrow or organized photoreceptor cells and by the missing eye in pharate adults. The presumptive head capsule is still intact. The leg discs appear to be lacking distal segments. All discs examined retained a single-cell layer epithelium (Boedigheimer, 1993).

Since each cell in the wing blade is associated with a single hair, the hairs can serve as markers for cell number and position. An examination of ex hypomorphic mutant wings reveal that the increased size of the wing is due to hyperplasia in two regions of the wing. In one of these regions, there is an increase in cell density, an elongation of cells in the broad axis of the wing and a greater elongation in dorsal surface than ventral surface. To analyze their shape, the wings were aligned along a wing vein and scaled to the same size. After scaling, all mutant wings were essentially superimposable (as are wild type), showing that the mutant wing phenotype is highly reproducible. This was true regardless of the heteroallelic combinations tested, allowing a comparison of wing shape to be made between scaled mutant and wild-type wings. Moreover, the overgrowth phenotype is completely recessive, indicating that overgrowth is not due to dominant allele-specific affects. The shape of ex mutant wings is broader than wild type, and rounder at the tip. The distal tip of wild-type wings occurs where L3 meets the margin, whereas the distal tip of ex wings is at the margin between L3 and L4. The sizes of intervein regions were compared separately between wild-type and ex mutant wings. This analysis reveals that only specific regions of the wing are larger in expanded mutants. The area between L1 and L2, and between L4 and L5 are increased the most. The area bounded by L3, L4 and the anterior crossvein is not significantly different in the mutant. The posterior crossvein is about the same length in mutants and wild type and does not span the intervein region in ex mutants. Thus, it is possible that the overgrowth is limited to a region anterior to the incomplete crossvein. From this analysis, it cannot be determined whether overgrowth is limited in the proximal distal axis. To determine whether overgrowth is spatially limited in null mutants, adult wings were dissected from pharate adults and carefully flattened. There is considerably more variation in shape among mutant pharate wings. The mutant pharate wings are generally larger than wild type with excessive growth between L1 and L2, and between L4 and the margin. These results indicate that regional hypertrophy occurs in complete as well as partial loss-of-function ex mutations (Boedigheimer, 1993).

Hair distribution was used to examine the shape and distribution of cells in wild type and ex^l(2)ey/ex⁶⁹⁷ in the most severely affected region, between L4 and L5. The density of hairs on mutant wings is increased and the hairs are more disorganized than on wild-type wings. The ratio of the average distance between hairs in the broad and long axis of the wing is larger in the mutant than in wild type. The ratio in wild-type wings is the same for the dorsal and ventral wing blade surfaces. However, in mutants the ratio is larger on the dorsal surface than on the ventral surface. The abnormal hair distribution indicates that, in this region, the cells in ex mutants are elongated along the broad axis of the wing. This type of cell elongation does not occur in the region between L5 and the margin in ex^l(2)ey/ex⁶⁹⁷ mutants (Boedigheimer, 1993).

An average increase of 0.7 cell divisions per cell occurs in the region between L4 and L5. This is a minimum estimate, since it is quite possible that increased cell death occurs in ex mutants, as has been described for other tumor suppressor mutants. Also, ex^l(2)ey/ex⁶⁹⁷ is a viable allelic combination, and a qualitative difference in size exists between mutant wing discs from this allelic combination and null alleles. Based on visual examination of mutant wing discs from null mutants and not accounting for possible cell death, it is estimated that the increase in cell divisions is slightly greater than 1 (Boedigheimer, 1993)

Genetic studies show that Ex is necessary for proper regulation of final cell number in adult wings and for the formation of eyes, distal leg, and distal antennal segments. Mitotic clones that lack Ex were generated using the twin spot technique, and it was demonstrated that the primary function of Ex is to regulate cell proliferation. Overexpressing Ex protein results in a decrease in final cell number in wings, suggesting a direct relationship between Ex function and proliferation rate (Boedigheimer, 1997).

Hypomorphic alleles of either Mer (Mer³) or ex (ex⁶⁹⁷) result in very similar adult wing and eye phenotypes. In both cases, mutant adults display enlarged wings due to an increase in cell number rather than an increase in cell size. In fact, the cell size in the mutants appears to be slightly decreased. Furthermore, this expansion in wing area is often accompanied by the disruption or complete absence of the posterior cross vein. In addition, the anterior cross vein is sometimes disrupted in ex⁶⁹⁷ adults. Mer and ex mutants have smaller, weakly roughened eyes. Histological sections of Mer³ eyes reveal only minor perturbations in interommatidial organization and no obvious disruptions in ommatidial polarity. Concomitant with the reduction in eye size is an apparent expansion of the ventral peripheral head cuticle and the development of ectopic vibrissae. Although stronger alleles of both Mer and ex (ex^e1, a null allele) result in lethality, Mer mutant larvae do not develop the hyperplastic discs characteristic of ex mutant larvae (McCartney, 2000).

Dose-sensitive genetic interactions have been shown to be a reliable indicator of functional interactions between genes. Reduction of ex function in the Mer³ hemizygous background with either ex⁶⁹⁷ or ex^e1 results in an enhancement of the Mer³ head phenotypes; the adult eye is reduced in size, more ectopic head cuticle and vibrissae are observed, and the bristles normally found between ommatidia are often duplicated and disorganized. Those ommatidia that form contain the normal complement of photoreceptors, however. In addition, Mer³ wing area and the frequency of posterior cross vein disruptions increase when ex function is reduced. Consistent with these observations, reduction of Mer function in ex⁶⁹⁷ mutants causes an increase in ex⁶⁹⁷ wing size (McCartney, 2000).

Previous studies indicate that loss of function of either Mer or ex in clones results in a 2- to 3-fold overproliferation of the mutant tissue compared with the wild-type twin spot. In the wing, loss of either Mer or ex alone in clones has no apparent effect on the differentiation and morphology of the affected tissue. Similarly, in the eye, loss of function of Mer results in overproliferation without obvious changes in the underlying morphology. In contrast, loss of ex function in the eye results in defects in planar polarization, in addition to proliferation defects (Blaumueller, 2000). Because the loss of function of either Mer or ex results in overproliferation, the consequences of loss of function of both genes were examined using somatic mosaic analysis. In the adult wing, both vein and intervein cells differentiate in mutant tissue. In contrast, clones that intersect the position of the posterior cross vein disrupt its development, consistent with the variably penetrant disruption of the posterior cross vein observed in hypomorphic alleles of Mer or ex. Clones in the position of the anterior cross vein differentiate normally. Within the mutant intervein and vein clones, apparent defects were observed in proliferation control. In the proximal region of the wing, clonal vein tissue forms a raised protrusion. In other regions of the wing, bulges in the veins are also observed, although more frequently vein clones are merely broadened when compared with the surrounding vein. In the intervein regions, the clonal tissue appears to bulge and crinkle within the confines of the normal tissue, suggesting overproliferation. Similar cuticular bulges or protrusions have been reported for mutant clones of genes that have tumor suppressor phenotypes, such as warts. Thus this phenotype is interpreted to indicate that the Mer;ex double mutant clones in the wing proliferate at a greater rate than the single mutant clones, though this could not be confirmed directly. Based on general morphology, the cells within the clone appear to differentiate as intervein cells, however, the cuticle deposited at the base of each wing hair within the mutant clone appears to be thickened and is distinct from cuticle produced by either the heterozygous intervein or vein cells. Clones that develop within the eye appear either as small scars with associated clusters of bristles, or as elongated scars and associated indentations running from within the eye field toward the anterior margin. Although these clones do not differentiate ommatidia, the position of the twin spot was used to indicate the position of the mutant clone. Mutant clones are often associated with overproliferated head cuticle (McCartney, 2000).

Reduction of dpp function in the eye imaginal disc (dpp^blk) results in reduction of the eye along the dorsoventral axis such that the ventral portion of the eye is replaced by head cuticle. A similar, yet less severe, phenotype is observed in Mer³ hemizygotes and ex⁶⁹⁷ homozygotes. To ask whether dpp expression is disrupted in Mer mutants, a dpp-lacZ transgene was ovexpressed in the Mer³ background. In the wild-type eye-antennal complex, dpp is expressed at the lateral margins and in the morphogenetic furrow of the eye disc and in a ventral wedge of tissue in the antennal disc. In the Mer³ mutants, the ventral portion of the disc is significantly enlarged. The expression pattern of dpp is disrupted such that the cells expressing dpp at the margin are displaced to the outer tip of the overproliferated tissue. In some cases, this dpp staining is associated with an ectopic furrow and developing photoreceptors. To better understand the functional relationship between dpp, Mer and ex, genetic interactions were examined between these genes. Reduction of dpp dose in Mer³ hemizygotes enhances the severity of the Mer³ eye phenotype, resulting in a smaller, more roughened eye and expansion of the head cuticle. Similar reduction of dpp function in ex⁶⁹⁷ homozygotes results in enhanced eye phenotypes and variably penetrant truncated leg phenotypes, reminiscent of those observed in pharate adults null for ex function. Although it is appealing to think that the effects of Mer and ex on patterning and proliferation are both mediated through the DPP pathway, this seems unlikely given that loss of either gene seems to negatively affect DPP patterning functions, but simultaneously causes overproliferation of mutant cells. It therefore seems more likely that the proliferation phenotypes of Mer and ex loss-of-function mutations are mediated through effects on one or more other pathways that regulate proliferative events (McCartney, 2000).

In addition to leading to subtle patterning defects, loss of ex results in dramatic growth abnormalities in the eye. This is evident both in clones and in discs from homozygous null animals. Homozygous mutant clones of ex^e1 tissue have a significant growth advantage over their wild-type counterparts in larval discs. Similar effects are evident in pupal discs and in adult eyes. In the cases of large mutant clones, the tissue protrudes out of the plane of the disc. Whereas it was not possible to do cell counts in these clones, the increased number of ommatidia within the mutant clone relative to the wild-type twin-spot and the relatively normal architecture of the ommatidia implies an increase in cell number within clonal tissue. In discs isolated from homozygous mutant larvae, the effects on growth are even more extreme. The eye discs are disproportionately large in comparison with the antennal discs of the same complex, reaching several times the size of those of wild-type larvae. Anterior regions of homozygous mutant discs also tended to lose their 'flat' character, leading to the formation of additional tissue flaps. These data demonstrate that ex acts as a negative regulator of growth in the eye as in the wing. As is the case in clones, eye patterning initiates relatively normally in discs from ex null animals. Stainings with markers for the morphological differentiation of eye tissue and for neuronal differentiation demonstrate that the morphogenetic furrow moves across mutant tissue, and that cell fate determination takes place. In summary, loss-of-function data from the developing eye disc indicate that ex plays an important role as a negative regulator of growth in the eye disc, and also affects patterning and differentiation at the levels of establishing cell fate and planar polarity (Blaumueller, 2000).

Delineation of a Fat tumor suppressor pathway

Recent studies in Drosophila of the protocadherins Dachsous and Fat suggest that they act as ligand and receptor, respectively, for an intercellular signaling pathway that influences tissue polarity, growth and gene expression, but the basis for signaling downstream of Fat has remained unclear. This study characterizes functional relationships among Drosophila tumor suppressors and identifies the kinases Discs overgrown and Warts as components of a Fat signaling pathway. fat, discs overgrown and warts regulate a common set of downstream genes in multiple tissues. Genetic experiments position the action of discs overgrown (dco) upstream of the Fat pathway component dachs, whereas warts acts downstream of dachs. Warts protein coprecipitates with Dachs, and Warts protein levels are influenced by fat, dachs and discs overgrown in vivo, consistent with its placement as a downstream component of the pathway. The tumor suppressors Merlin, expanded (ex), hippo, salvador (sav) and mob as tumor suppressor (mats) also share multiple Fat pathway phenotypes but regulate Warts activity independently. These results functionally link what had been four disparate groups of Drosophila tumor suppressors, establish a basic framework for Fat signaling from receptor to transcription factor and implicate Warts as an integrator of multiple growth control signals (Cho, 2006).

Since Dachs is required for loss of Wts protein in fat mutants, and Dachs encodes a large Myosin protein, a model was considered in which Dachs acts as a scaffold to link Wts to proteins that promote Wts proteolysis, analogous to the roles of Costal2 in Hedgehog signaling, or APC in Wnt signaling. This model predicts that Dachs should be able to bind to Wts. To evaluate this possibility, tagged forms of Dachs and Wts were coexpressed in cultured cells and assayed for coimmunoprecipitation. These experiments identified a specific and reproducible interaction between Dachs and Wts (Cho, 2006).

Recent studies have identified the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie (Yki) as a downstream component of the Hippo pathway and a substrate of Wts kinase activity. Phosphorylation of Yki by Wts inactivates Yki, and overexpression of Yki phenocopies wts mutation. The determination that the Fat tumor suppressor pathway acts through modulation of Wts thus predicts that Yki should also be involved in Fat signaling. When the influence of Yki overexpression was examined on Fat target genes, expression of Wg in the proximal wing, Ser in the proximal leg and fj in the wing and eye were each upregulated by Yki overexpression, consistent with the inference that Fat tumor suppressor pathway signaling acts through Yki (Cho, 2006).

In order to identify additional components of the Fat tumor suppressor pathway, advantage was taken of the observation that loss of fat in clones of cells is associated with an induction of Wingless (Wg) expression in cells just proximal to the normal ring of Wg expression in the proximal wing, reflective of its role in distal-to-proximal wing signaling. It was reasoned that this influence on Wg expression could be used to screen other Drosophila tumor suppressors for their potential to contribute to Fat signaling. Analysis of mutant clones in the proximal wing identified dco, ex, mats, sav, hpo and wts as candidate components of the Fat tumor suppressor pathway. As for fat, mutation of each of these genes is associated with induction of Wg expression specifically in the proximal wing, whereas Wg expression is not affected in more distal or more proximal wing cells. Although Wg expression often seems slightly elevated within its normal domain, the effect of these mutations is most obvious in the broadening of the Wg expression ring. The induction of Wg expression does not seem to be a nonspecific consequence of the altered growth or cell affinity associated with these mutations, since Wg expression is unaffected by expression of the growth-promoting microRNA gene bantam or by expression of genes that alter cell affinity in the proximal wing (Cho, 2006).

dco encodes D. melanogaster casein kinase I delta/epsilon. The overgrowth phenotype that gave the gene its name is observed in allelic combinations that include a hypomorphic allele, dco³, and it is this allele that is associated with induction of Wg. Null mutations of dco actually result in an 'opposite' phenotype: discs fail to grow, and clones of cells mutant for null alleles fail to proliferate. This is likely to reflect requirements for dco in multiple, distinct processes, as casein kinase I proteins phosphorylate many different substrates, and dco has been implicated in circadian rhythms, Wnt signaling and Hedgehog signaling (Cho, 2006).

Mer and ex encode two structurally related FERM domain-containing proteins. ex was first identified as a Drosophila tumor suppressor, whereas Drosophila Mer was first identified based on its structural similarity to human Merlin. Mutation of Mer alone causes only mild effects on imaginal disc growth, but Mer and ex are partially redundant, and double mutants show more severe overgrowth phenotypes than either single mutant. Consistent with this, elevation of Wg expression was observed in ex mutant clones (7/10 proximal wing clones induced Wg) and not in Mer mutant clones (0/8 clones), whereas Mer ex double mutant clones showed even more severe effects on Wg than ex single mutant clones. Because of the partial redundancy between Mer and ex, when possible, focus was placed for subsequent analysis on Mer ex double mutant clones (Cho, 2006).

Wts, Mats, Sav and Hpo interact biochemically, show similar overgrowth phenotypes and regulate common target genes. Mats, Sav and Hpo are all thought to act by regulating the phosphorylation state and thereby the activity of Wts. Mutation of any one of these genes is associated with upregulation of Wg in the proximal wing. The effects of sav (47/84 clones in the proximal wing induced Wg) and hpo (23/31 clones) were weaker than those of mats (19/19 clones) and wts (92/97 clones), but this might result from differences in perdurance or allele strength. Because sav, hpo and mats all act through Wts, focus for most of the subsequent analysis was placed on wts (Cho, 2006).

The observation that mutation of dco, Mer, ex, mats, sav, hpo or wts all share the distinctive upregulation of Wg expression in the proximal wing observed in fat mutants suggests that the functions of these genes are closely linked. To further investigate this, the effects of these tumor suppressors were characterized on other transcriptional targets of Fat signaling. Expression of the Notch ligand Ser is upregulated unevenly within fat mutant cells in the proximal region of the leg disc. A very similar upregulation occurred in dco³, Mer ex, and wts mutant clones. fj is a target of Fat signaling in both wing and eye imaginal discs, and fj expression was also upregulated in dco³, Mer ex, or wts mutant clones. The observation that these genes share multiple transcriptional targets in different Drosophila tissues implies that they act together in a common process (Cho, 2006).

The hypothesis that Fat pathway genes and Hippo pathway genes are linked predicts that not only should Fat target genes be regulated by Hippo pathway genes, but Hippo pathway target genes should also be regulated by Fat pathway genes. The cell cycle regulator CycE and the inhibitor of apoptosis Diap1 (encoded by thread) have been widely used as diagnostic downstream targets to assign genes to the Hippo pathway. Notably, then, clones of cells mutant for fat showed upregulation of both Diap1 and CycE protein expression. Genes whose expression is upregulated within fat mutant cells (such as wg, Ser and fj) have been shown previously to be induced along the borders of cells expressing either fj or dachsous (ds), and Diap1 is also upregulated around the borders of ds- or fj-expressing clones. That thread is affected by fat at a transcriptional level was confirmed by examining a thread-lacZ enhancer trap line. The regulation of Diap1 by the Hippo pathway is thought to be responsible for a characteristic eye phenotype in which an excess of interommatidial cells results from their failure to undergo apoptosis; an increase was also observed in interommatidial cells in fat mutant clones. Upregulation of both Diap1 and CycE is also observed in Mer ex double mutant clones. In dco³ mutant clones, consistent upregulation was detected only for Diap1, and CycE was upregulated only weakly and inconsistently. dco³ also has weaker effects on Wg and fj expression; the weaker effects of dco³ could result from its hypomorphic nature. ex has recently been characterized as another Hippo pathway target, and an ex-lacZ enhancer trap that is upregulated in wts or Mer ex mutant clones is also upregulated in fat or dco³ mutant clones. Analysis of ex transcription by in situ hybridization also indicated that ex is regulated by fat. Altogether, this analysis of Hippo pathway targets further supports the conclusion that the functions of the Fat pathway, the Hippo pathway and the tumor suppressors Mer, ex and dco are linked (Cho, 2006).

Genetic epistasis experiments provide a critical framework for evaluating the functional relationships among genes that act in a common pathway. The relationships was evaluated between each of the tumor suppressors linked to the Fat pathway and dachs, using both wing disc growth and proximal Wg expression as phenotypic assays. dachs is the only previously identified downstream component of the Fat tumor suppressor pathway. It acts oppositely to fat and is epistatic to fat in terms of both growth and gene expression phenotypes (Cho, 2006).

dachs is also epistatic to dco³ for overall wing disc growth and for proximal Wg expression. The epistasis of dachs to dco³ implies that the overgrowth phenotype of dco³ is specifically related to its influence on Fat signaling, as opposed to participation of dco in other pathways. By contrast to the epistasis of dachs to dco³, both wts and ex are epistatic to dachs for disc overgrowth phenotypes, and wts and Mer ex are epistatic to dachs in their influence on proximal Wg expression. Together, these epistasis experiments suggest that dco acts upstream of dachs, whereas Mer ex and wts act downstream of dachs (Cho, 2006).

Because wts and Mer ex have similar phenotypes, their epistatic relationship cannot be determined using loss-of-function alleles. However, overexpression of ex inhibits growth and promotes apoptosis, which suggests that ex overexpression affects ex gain-of-function. Clones of cells overexpressing ex are normally composed of only a few cells, and over time most are lost, but coexpression with the baculovirus apoptosis inhibitor p35 enabled recovery of ex-expressing clones. These ex- and p35-expressing clones were associated with repression of proximal Wg expression during early- to mid-third instar, as has been described for dachs², consistent with ex overexpression acting as a gain-of-function allele in terms of its influence on Fat signaling. In epistasis experiments using overexpressed ex and mutation of wts, wts was epistatic; Wg was induced in the proximal wing. Additionally, when wts is mutant, coexpression with p35 was no longer needed to ensure the viability and growth of ex-expressing clones, indicating that wts is also epistatic to ex for growth and survival. Consistent with this conclusion, others have recently described phenotypic similarities between Mer ex and hpo pathway mutants and have reported that hpo is epistatic to Mer ex (Cho, 2006).

When Fat was overexpressed, a slight reduction was detected in Wg expression during early- to mid-third instar, suggesting that overexpression can result in a weak gain-of-function phenotype. Clones of cells overexpressing Fat but mutant for dco³ still showed reduced Wg levels, whereas clones of cells overexpressing Fat but mutant for warts showed increased Wg levels. Although experiments in which the epistatic mutation is not a null allele cannot be regarded as definitive, these results are consistent with the conclusion that wts acts downstream of fat and suggest that dco might act upstream of fat (Cho, 2006).

The epistasis results described above suggest an order of action for Fat tumor suppressor pathway genes in which dco acts upstream of fat, fat acts upstream of dachs, dachs acts upstream of Mer and ex, and Mer and ex act upstream of wts. However, the determination that one gene is epistatic to another does not prove that the epistatic gene is biochemically downstream, as it is also possible that they act in parallel but converge upon a common target. Thus, to better define the functional and hierarchical relationships among these genes, experiments were initiated to investigate the possibility that genetically upstream components influence the phosphorylation, stability or localization of genetically downstream (that is, epistatic) components. Focus in this study was placed on the most downstream of these components, Wts. As available antibodies did not specifically recognize Wts in imaginal discs, advantage was taken of the existence of functional, Myc-tagged Wts-expressing transgenes (Myc:Wts) to investigate potential influences of upstream Fat pathway genes on Wts protein. In wing imaginal discs, Myc:Wts staining outlines cells, suggesting that it is preferentially localized near the plasma membrane, and it was confirmed that expression of Myc:Wts under tub-Gal4 control can rescue wts mutation. Notably, mutation of fat results in a reduction of Myc:Wts staining. As Myc:Wts is expressed under the control of a heterologous promoter in these experiments, this must reflect a post-transcriptional influence on Wts protein. fat does not exert a general influence on the levels of Hippo pathway components; fat mutant clones had no detectable influence on the expression of hemagglutinin epitope-tagged Sav (HA:Sav) (Cho, 2006).

The decrease in Wts protein associated with mutation of fat contrasts with studies of the regulation of Wts activity by the Hippo pathway, which have identified changes in Wts activity due to changes in its phosphorylation state. To directly compare regulation of Wts by Fat with regulation of Wts by other upstream genes, Myc:Wts staining was examined in ex, sav and mats mutant clones. In each of these experiments, the levels and localization of Myc:Wts in mutant cells was indistinguishable from that in neighboring wild-type cells (Cho, 2006).

Since Myc:Wts appears preferentially localized near the plasma membrane, it was conceivable that the apparent decrease in staining reflected delocalization of Wts, rather than destabilization. To investigate this possibility, Wts levels were examined by protein blotting. Antisera against endogenous Wts recognized a band of the expected mobility in lysates of wing imaginal discs or cultured cells, and this band was enhanced when Wts was overexpressed. The intensity of this band was reproducibly diminished in fat or dco³ homozygous mutant animals but was not diminished in fat or dco³ heterozygotes or in ex mutants. Conversely, levels of Hpo, Sav, Mer or Mats were not noticeably affected by fat mutation (Cho, 2006).

The determination that Wts is affected by Fat, together with the genetic studies described above, place Wts within the Fat signaling pathway, as opposed to a parallel pathway that converges on common transcriptional targets. Indeed, given that even hypomorphic alleles of wts result in disc overgrowth, the evident reduction in Wts levels might suffice to explain the overgrowth of fat mutants. As a further test of this possibility, Wts levels were examined in fat dachs double mutants. As the influence of Fat on gene expression and growth is absolutely dependent upon Dachs, if Fat influences growth through modulation of Wts, its influence on Wts levels should be reversed by mutation of dachs. Examination of Myc:Wts staining in fat dachs clones and of Wts protein levels in fat dachs mutant discs confirmed this prediction (Cho, 2006).

Prior observations, including the influences of fat and ds on gene expression, and the ability of the Fat intracellular domain to rescue fat phenotypes, suggested that Fat functions as a signal-transducing receptor. By identifying kinases that act both upstream (Dco) and downstream (Wts) of the Fat effector Dachs and by linking Fat to the transcriptional coactivator Yki, these results have provided additional support for the conclusion that Fat functions as a component of a signaling pathway and have delineated core elements of this pathway from receptor to transcription factor. Fat activity is regulated, in ways yet to be defined, by Ds and Fj. The influences of Fat on gene expression, growth, and cell affinity, as well as on Wts stability, are completely dependent on Dachs, indicating that Dachs is a critical effector of Fat signaling. Since Dachs can associate with Wts or a Wts-containing complex, it is suggested that Dachs might act as a scaffold to assemble a Wts degradation complex. The observations that Fat, Ds and Fj modulate the subcellular localization of Dachs, that Wts is preferentially localized near the membrane and that Dachs accumulates at the membrane in the absence of Fat, suggest a simple model whereby Fat signaling regulates Wts stability by modulating the accumulation of Dachs at the membrane and thereby its access to Wts. The working model is that dco³ is defective in the phosphorylation of a substrate in the Fat pathway, but the recessive nature of dco³, the genetic epistasis experiments, and biochemical experiments argue that this substrate is not Wts, and further work is required to define the biochemical role of Dco in Fat signaling (Cho, 2006).

In addition to identifying core components of the Fat pathway, the results establish close functional links between the Fat pathway, the Hippo pathway and the FERM-domain tumor suppressors Mer and Ex. The common phenotypes observed among these tumor suppressors can be explained by their common ability to influence Wts. However, they seem to do this in distinct ways, acting in parallel pathways that converge on Wts rather than a single signal transduction pathway. The Fat pathway modulates levels of Wts, apparently by influencing Wts stability. By contrast, the Hippo pathway seems to regulate the activity of Wts by modulating its phosphorylation state. Thus, Wts seems to act as an integrator of distinct growth signals, which can be transmitted by both the Fat pathway and the Hippo pathway. It has been suggested that Mer and Ex also act through the Hippo pathway, although present experiments cannot exclude the possibility that Mer and Ex act in parallel to Hpo. Moreover, it should be noted that Mats might regulate Wts independently of Hpo and Sav and hence function within a distinct, parallel pathway. Although it is simplest to think of parallel pathways, there is also evidence for cross-talk. fj and ex are both components and targets of these pathways. Thus, they can be regarded as feedback targets within their respective pathways, but their regulation also constitutes a point of cross-talk between pathways. Another possible point of cross-talk is suggested by the observation that levels of Fat are elevated within Mer ex mutant clones. Although the potential for cross-talk complicates assessments of the relationships between tumor suppressors, the observations that fat, dco³ and dachs affect Warts protein levels in vivo, whereas ex, hippo, sav and mats do not, argues that there are at least two distinct pathways that converge on Warts. This conclusion is also consistent with the observations that ex, hippo, sav and mats can influence Wts phosphorylation in cultured cell assays, but Fat, Dachs and Dco do not (Cho, 2006).

Although the Fat and Hippo pathways converge on Wts, Hippo pathway mutants seem more severe. Thus, hpo, wts or mats mutant clones show a distinctive disorganization and outgrowth of epithelial tissues that is not observed in fat mutant clones, and they show a greater increase in interommatidial cells. This difference presumably accounts for the previous failure to recognize the tight functional link between Fat and Hippo signaling, and it can be explained by the finding that Wts levels are reduced but not completely absent in fat mutant cells. Thus, fat would be expected to resemble a hypomorphic allele of wts rather than a null allele, and consistent with this, a hypomorphic allele, wts^P2, results in strong overgrowth phenotypes. The effects of Yki overexpression on growth and target gene expression can be even stronger than those of fat or wts mutations, which suggests that Yki levels become limiting when upstream tumor suppressors are mutant (Cho, 2006).

fat encodes a protocadherin, which in the past has led to speculation that its influences on growth and cell affinity might result from Fat acting as a cell adhesion molecule. However, all of the effects of fat on growth and affinity require dachs, which is also required for the effects of fat on transcription. Additionally, targets of Fat signaling include genes that can influence growth and affinity; recent studies identified an influence of fat on E-cadherin expression, and as describe in this study, Fat influences CycE and Diap1 expression. Thus, one can account for the influence of fat on growth and affinity by its ability to regulate gene expression. fat interacts genetically with other signaling pathways, including EGFR and Wnt, and in some cells Fat signaling also influences the expression of ligands (such as Wg and Ser) for other signaling pathways. Regulation of these ligands contributes to fat overgrowth phenotypes, but since clonal analysis indicates that fat is autonomously required for growth control in most imaginal cells, the principal mechanism by which fat influences growth presumably involves the regulation of general targets (Cho, 2006).

Normal tissue growth and patterning depend on a relatively small number of highly conserved intercellular signaling pathways. The Fat pathway is essential for the normal regulation of growth and PCP in most or all of the external tissues of the fly and also participates in local cell fate decisions. In this regard, its importance to fly development can be considered comparable to that of other major signaling pathways. Although the biological roles and even the existence of a Fat pathway in mammals remain to be demonstrated, there is clear evidence that the mammalian Warts homologs Lats1 and Lats2 act as tumor suppressors and that a mammalian Yorkie homolog, YAP, can act as an oncogene. Moreover, other genes in the Drosophila Fat pathway have apparent structural homologs in mammals. Thus, it is likely that mammals also have a Fat tumor suppressor pathway that functions in growth control (Cho, 2006).

The tumor suppressors Merlin and Expanded function cooperatively to modulate receptor endocytosis and signaling

The precise coordination of signals that control proliferation is a key feature of growth regulation in developing tissues. While much has been learned about the basic components of signal transduction pathways, less is known about how receptor localization, compartmentalization, and trafficking affect signaling in developing tissues. This paper examines the mechanism by which the Drosophila Neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) tumor suppressor ortholog Merlin (Mer) and the related tumor suppressor expanded (ex) regulate proliferation and differentiation in imaginal epithelia. Merlin and Expanded are members of the FERM (Four-point one, Ezrin, Radixin, Moesin) domain superfamily, which consists of membrane-associated cytoplasmic proteins that interact with transmembrane proteins and may function as adapters that link to protein complexes and/or the cytoskeleton. Merlin and Expanded function to regulate the steady-state levels of signaling and adhesion receptors, and loss of these proteins can cause hyperactivation of associated signaling pathways. In addition, pulse-chase labeling of Notch in living tissues indicates that receptor levels are upregulated at the plasma membrane in Mer; ex double mutant cells due to a defect in receptor clearance from the cell surface. It is proposed that these proteins control proliferation by regulating the abundance, localization, and turnover of cell-surface receptors and that misregulation of these processes may be a key component of tumorigenesis (Maitra, 2006).

Merlin's tumor suppressor function is conserved from humans to flies, but the cellular basis for this function remains unclear. Genetic studies in Drosophila suggest that Mer regulates signaling pathways that control proliferation, and cell biological experiments indicate that Merlin may play a role in endocytic processes. In addition, Merlin physically interacts with Expanded, a distantly related member of the FERM superfamily, and these proteins colocalize in the apical junctional region of epithelial cells. Furthermore, genetic studies have shown that while mutations of each gene produce modest overproliferation phenotypes in the eye and wing, double mutant Mer; ex cells display severe overgrowth and differentiation defects that are not seen in either mutation alone. Thus, Mer and ex are partially redundant in regulating proliferation and differentiation (Maitra, 2006).

Given these observations, it was reasoned that the difficulty in identifying precise cellular functions for Merlin might stem from its redundancy with Expanded and that this difficulty could be overcome by examining tissues from double mutant animals and double mutant cell clones generated by somatic recombination. Overproliferation of Mer; ex wing imaginal discs is more extreme than that observed with either mutation alone. Surprisingly, however, Mer⁴; ex⁶⁹⁷ eye-antennal imaginal discs have severely reduced eye primordia with a substantial reduction in or total absence of photoreceptors, although the antennal portion is normal or slightly larger than normal and occasionally is duplicated. Apoptosis does not appear to be enhanced in double mutant eye-antennal discs, suggesting that loss of the eye primordium is not due to cell death. Thus, loss of Mer and ex function has a tissue-specific defect in the developing eye that is very different from its effects on proliferation in the wing imaginal disc (Maitra, 2006).

Why does the combined loss of two tumor suppressors cause reduction rather than hypertrophy of eye tissue? Previous studies have shown that initiation of the morphogenetic furrow, which organizes development of the eye, is regulated by a complex network of signals at the posterior and lateral margins of the eye-antennal disc. Mutations that affect these signals not only block furrow initiation, but also may significantly reduce the size of the eye field and disrupt photoreceptor differentiation. For example, ectopic Wingless expression either at the posterior and lateral margins or throughout the eye primordium results in dramatic losses of eye tissue that closely resemble the Mer; ex phenotype just described. Similar effects are seen from reduction in Decapentaplegic (DPP) or Hedgehog signaling in the same cells (Maitra, 2006).

If Merlin and Expanded affect initiation of the morphogenetic furrow rather than differentiation of photoreceptors, then Mer; ex double mutant somatic clones should block ommatidial development only when present at the posterior or lateral margins of the eye field. Indeed, Mer; ex clones could differentiate photoreceptors, but only when located in the middle of the eye field. In contrast, clones in contact with the posterior or lateral margin of the eye fail to produce photoreceptors. It is inferred from these observations that one or more of the signaling pathways that control initiation of the morphogenetic furrow are likely disrupted in Mer; ex double mutant cells (Maitra, 2006).

Given that Merlin is associated with the plasma membrane and may function in endocytic processes, it was asked if Merlin and Expanded play a role in regulating localization and/or abundance of transmembrane receptors that function in eye development. For these studies, Mer; ex somatic mosaic cell clones were examined to allow side-by-side comparisons of wild-type and mutant cells in the wing and eye imaginal discs. Immunofluorescence staining with specific antibodies then allowed comparison of the steady-state levels of receptors between adjacent wild-type and mutant cells. Intriguingly, Notch, the EGF receptor, Patched, and Smoothened all displayed increased antibody staining in double mutant cells relative to their wild-type neighbors. Notch, which is primarily localized to the apical junctional domain in wild-type cells, showed not only increased junctional staining in mutant cells, but also more diffuse staining. Similarly, preparations with anti-EGFR display more abundant membrane-associated and cytoplasmic staining in mutant than in wild-type cells. Patched staining, which is less obviously junctional than Notch or EGFR, appeared more punctate in Mer; ex cells. Thus, simultaneous loss of Merlin and Expanded results in increased abundance of receptors for multiple signaling pathways, though the precise localization defect seems to be specific to each receptor. Two adhesion-related receptors, E-cadherin and Fat, a cadherin superfamily member, were examined; both are similarly upregulated in Mer; ex cells. However, Coracle, a membrane-associated cytoplasmic protein, is not affected. In addition, the localization of markers for apical-basal polarity, including DLG, PATJ, and aPKC, was unaffected in the double mutant cells, indicating that epithelial polarity is not disrupted. In contrast to the double mutant cells, clones lacking just Merlin show no apparent difference in receptor localization or abundance, and ex^e1 cells display only a slight increase in staining. Taken together, these results indicate that Merlin and Expanded are required to reduce the steady-state abundance of a variety of signaling and adhesion receptors in developing epithelia (Maitra, 2006).

Membrane trafficking was examined in Mer; ex double mutant cells. Antibodies were used against the extracellular domain of Notch (anti-ECN) to label protein on the surface of living cells in imaginal discs bearing somatic mosaic clones. Side-by-side comparisons of wild-type and Mer; ex mutant cells show increased cell-surface Notch labeling, consistent with what was observed with fixed tissue and indicating that there are increased levels of receptor at the plasma membrane in mutant cells. In addition, in double mutant cells, the junctional band of Notch staining is broader, indicating that Notch localization to the junctional region also may be affected. Similar differences in junctional staining were observed with the same antibody on fixed and permeabilized tissues, indicating that surface labeling of live cells does not affect Notch localization (Maitra, 2006).

To ask if the increased abundance is due to a defect in turnover, a pulse-chase approach was used to label Notch receptor at the plasma membrane and then its removal from the cell surface was followed. To restrict analysis to Notch that remains at the cell surface, tissues were fixed but not permeabilized at the end of the chase period. A progressive loss was observed of Notch staining at the cell surface during the chase period that appeared more rapid in wild-type than in mutant cells, suggesting a defect in trafficking off the plasma membrane. Quantitative fluorescence analysis was used to determine the relative quantities of Notch on wild-type and mutant cells at the various chase time points. The results indicate that the ratio of cell-surface Notch fluorescence in mutant versus wild-type cells increases significantly between 0 and 10, 30, or 60 min postlabeling. Therefore, Notch protein is cleared more rapidly from the surface of wild-type than mutant cells (Maitra, 2006).

It is worth noting that current models for Notch receptor activation require cleavage and release of its extracellular domain in response to ligand binding. Because an antibody was used that recognizes this domain, it follows that these studies examined only ligand-independent trafficking of the receptor. In support of this inference, the pattern of Notch internalization in pulse-chase experiments was unaffected in Delta⁻ clones. These observations suggest that Merlin and Expanded function in steady-state, ligand-independent clearance of receptors from the plasma membrane, rather than internalization and degradation that occurs in response to ligand binding (Maitra, 2006).

Increased receptor abundance may be expected to result in increased signaling output, if receptor quantity is a limiting factor. In addition, even if overall receptor quantity is not limiting, alterations in subcellular localization or the dynamics of receptor trafficking may have dramatic effects on receptor function. To ask if loss of Merlin and Expanded result in increased output from signaling pathways that regulate eye development and cell proliferation, markers specific for downstream activation of the EGFR, Wingless, and Notch signaling pathways were used. First, double mutant clones were stained with an antibody that recognizes the phosphorylated, activated form of MAP kinase (anti-dpERK), a downstream effector of the EGFR pathway. In addition to the normal anti-dpERK pattern in the wing imaginal disc, increased staining was observed in Mer; ex clones relative to their wild-type neighbors, suggesting upregulation of EGFR pathway activity. Similarly, output from the Wingless pathway was monitored by looking at expression of Distalless, a target of Wingless signaling and it was found to be dramatically higher in the double mutant wing clones. In contrast, similar experiments with the mAb323 antibody to E(spl) bHLH proteins, a marker for Notch pathway activity, did not show upregulation of Notch signaling. This result is consistent with the observation that overexpression of Notch in a wild-type genetic background has little or no phenotype. To examine this further, a genetic context was analyzed in which Notch receptor quantities are known to be limiting, that is, in animals that are heterozygous for a null Notch mutation. Such animals display a dominant, haploinsufficient phenotype characterized by notching along the wing margin. To ask if reduction in Merlin and Expanded in this context can cause upregulation of Notch pathway output, animals triply heterozygous for Notch, Merlin, and expanded were generated and it was found that the characteristic Notch wing phenotype was strongly suppressed (Maitra, 2006).

Taken together, these results are consistent with the observation that the steady-state level of multiple receptors is elevated in Mer; ex cells and indicate that, depending on the precise developmental or genetic context, loss of Merlin and Expanded can result in increased output from the corresponding signaling pathways. In Mer; ex eyes, upregulation of Wingless signaling may be a primary contributor to the observed defect in ommatidial development. Previous studies have shown that ectopic Wingless signaling produces remarkably similar eye phenotypes, and preliminary data suggest that inhibiting Wingless signaling partially suppresses the Mer; ex eye phenotype. In the wing, the dramatic overproliferation of Mer; ex cells may be the combined result of upregulation of several pathways, including EGFR and Wingless (Maitra, 2006).

Merlin and Expanded are associated with the apical junctional region in imaginal epithelia and with endocytic vesicles in cultured cells. Results shown in this study indicate that loss of these proteins affects abundance, cell-surface localization, and endocytic trafficking of Notch, EGFR, and other signaling and adhesion receptors in epithelial cells. Recent studies of endocytic trafficking in receptor/ligand regulation suggest aspects of endocytosis that could relate to Merlin and Expanded function. For example, it is possible that Merlin and Expanded function at the plasma membrane to recruit or anchor transmembrane proteins at sites on the membrane from which they are endocytosed or in the sorting between recycling endosomes and lysosomal degradation by promoting receptor degradation. Both possibilities are consistent with observations of increased receptor levels at the plasma membrane in Mer; ex mutant cells and colocalization of Merlin and Expanded with Notch in punctate structures at the plasma membrane. In addition, a partial colocalization was observed of Merlin and Expanded with Rab 11, a marker for recycling endosomes, and with EEA-1, which labels early endosomes. Intriguingly, it has been suggested that the closely related ERM protein Ezrin functions to promote recycling rather than degradation of the β2-adrenergic receptor via its interactions with filamentous actin. Understanding the exact relationship of Merlin and Expanded to endocytosis and recycling of receptors, as well as their possible relationship to ERM proteins in this process, will require further analysis (Maitra, 2006).

A recent study has proposed that Merlin and Expanded function upstream of Hippo in the Warts signaling pathway, which regulates proliferation. Merlin and expanded mutants display similar phenotypes to those seen in hippo mutants. However, there are significant phenotypic differences between Mer; ex and hippo mutations, most notable of which is that hippo mutations have not been reported to block induction of eye morphogenesis. In addition, there is no evidence to suggest that the Hippo pathway regulates output of the EGFR, Wingless, or Notch signaling pathways. Thus, the relationship of Merlin and Expanded to the Hippo pathway may be more complicated than the linear pathway proposed. One possibility is that Hippo activation is a downstream consequence of Merlin and Expanded's effects on output of multiple signaling pathways (Maitra, 2006).

More than a decade after its molecular characterization, the precise cellular functions of Merlin in regulating cell proliferation remain unclear. Based on the current studies, it is proposed that Merlin's tumor suppressor phenotype results from defects in endocytic trafficking of signaling receptors and accompanying hyperactivation of associated signaling pathways. Recent studies highlight the importance of endocytosis in regulation of signaling pathways. Based on the results presented in this study, it is suggested that proper regulation of membrane trafficking also may have important implications for understanding the cellular basis of tumor suppression in flies and mammals (Maitra, 2006).

The salvador-warts-hippo pathway is required for epithelial proliferation and axis specification in Drosophila

In Drosophila, the body axes are specified during oogenesis through interactions between the germline and the overlying somatic follicle cells. A Gurken/TGF-alpha signal from the oocyte to the adjacent follicle cells assigns them a posterior identity. These posterior cells then signal back to the oocyte, thereby inducing the repolarization of the microtubule cytoskeleton, the migration of the oocyte nucleus, and the localization of the axis specifying mRNAs. However, little is known about the signaling pathways within or from the follicle cells responsible for these patterning events. It study shows that the Salvador Warts Hippo (SWH) tumor-suppressor pathway is required in the follicle cells in order to induce their Gurken- and Notch-dependent differentiation and to limit their proliferation. The SWH pathway is also required in the follicle cells to induce axis specification in the oocyte, by inducing the migration of the oocyte nucleus, the reorganization of the cytoskeleton, and the localization of the mRNAs that specify the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes of the embryo. This work highlights a novel connection between cell proliferation, cell growth, and axis specification in egg chambers (Meignin, 2007).

Multicellular organisms develop through an orchestrated temporal and spatial pattern of cell behavior, which is controlled by cell-to-cell signaling. In Drosophila melanogaster, the establishment of the embryonic axes occurs in the oocyte and depends on a sequence of signals between the germline and the somatic cells. First, Gurken (Grk) signals from the oocyte to the adjacent follicle cells (FCs), in which Torpedo (Top, EGFR) is activated, and this signal instructs them to adopt a posterior identity. The posterior FCs (PFCs) then send an unidentified signal back to the oocyte, leading to the movement of the nucleus from the posterior to the dorsoanterior (DA) corner and the repolarization of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton, with the minus ends at the anterior and lateral cortex and the plus ends at the posterior. This repolarization results in the localization of the mRNAs that encode key patterning factors. grk mRNA is next to the nucleus at the DA corner of the oocyte. At this corner, Grk instructs the overlying FCs to adopt dorsal fates. In contrast, oskar (osk) and bicoid (bcd) mRNAs are localized at the posterior and anterior pole, respectively, thus defining the anterior posterior (AP) embryonic axis and the germ cells. Although several genes are required in the FCs to control these events, little is known about the signaling pathways within and from the FCs (Meignin, 2007).

One of the genes required for axis formation during oogenesis is the tumor suppressor merlin (mer). However, it is not known whether Mer influences axis specification directly or what signaling pathways lie downstream of Mer. In other tissues, Mer is known to activate the Salvador Warts Hippo (SWH) pathway, which is a tumor-suppressor pathway. Inhibition of the SWH pathway leads to a characteristic overgrowth phenotype in adult organs because of an overproliferation of cells, increased cell growth, and defects in apoptosis. To test whether the SWH pathway is required in the function of Mer in axis formation, the localization of grk, bcd, and osk mRNA was examined in egg chambers with warts (wts) and hippo (hpo) mutant FCs. wts and hpo encode two serine/threonine kinases that are core components of this pathway. In both cases, grk mRNA is mislocalized at the posterior, osk mRNA is mislocalized at the center, and bcd mRNA is mislocalized at the posterior and anterior poles. The mislocalization of these mRNAs could be due to failure of the MTs to repolarize, as has been previously shown in grk/EGFR and mer mutants. In wild-type oocytes, the MTs are organized in an AP gradient. In contrast, in egg chambers with hpo mutant FCs, the MTs are distributed diffusely all over the oocyte cytoplasm. Considering these results, together with previous characterizations of similar phenotypes, it is concluded that the oocyte cytoskeleton in mutant egg chambers for the SWH pathway is disorganized with the MT plus ends at the center and the minus ends at the anterior and posterior poles. These defects resemble those described in oocytes lacking the Grk signal. In wts mutants, however, Grk protein is detected at the posterior pole, where grk mRNA is mislocalized. This demonstrates that the axis-specification defects in wts mutant egg chambers are not a consequence of the absence of Grk protein (Meignin, 2007).

It was shown that mer is required in the FCs for the repolarizing signal back to the germline and consequently for the migration of the oocyte nucleus from the posterior to the DA corner. Similarly, when mutant FC clones were generated for wts, hpo, and expanded (ex), an activator of the SWH pathway, the oocyte nucleus fails to migrate to the anterior. Another protein that is upstream of the SWH pathway is the giant atypical cadherin fat (ft). However, egg chambers with ft mutant FCs show no defects in oocyte polarity, and both the nucleus and Staufen (Stau) [a marker for osk mRNA] are always properly localized. In other epithelia, hpo and wts are required to repress the activity of Yorkie (Yki) and overexpression of yki phenocopies loss-of-function mutations of hpo and wts. Similarly, it was found that overexpression of yki in the FCs also causes the mislocalization of Stau and the oocyte nucleus. These results indicate that the SWH pathway, with the exception of Ft, might be required for the repolarizing signal back from the FCs to the oocyte (Meignin, 2007).

Because this signal is sent by the PFCs, whether the SWH pathway is required only in these cells was analyzed. In egg chambers with wild-type PFCs within an otherwise hpo or wts mutant epithelium, as well as in hpo, wts, and ex germline clones, the oocyte polarity is unaffected. However, in egg chambers with hpo mutant PFCs in an otherwise wild-type epithelium, the oocyte nucleus is mislocalized. It was also observed that when only a few cells at the posterior are mutant, Stau localizes in the region of the oocyte that faces the posterior wild-type cells. The SWH pathway is not required in the polar cells for axis determination because egg chambers with hpo or wts mutant PFCs and wild-type polar cells show oocyte polarity defects. It is concluded that the SWH pathway is required only in the PFCs to induce axis specification in the oocyte (Meignin, 2007).

In contrast to the monolayered wild-type epithelium, anterior and posterior, but not lateral, hpo and wts mutant cells form a bilayered, and occasionally a multilayered, epithelium. Given that the SWH pathway is required to control proliferation in epithelia of imaginal discs, whether the bilayered epithelium is a result of overproliferation was analyzed. At stage 6 of oogenesis, wild-type FCs undergo a Notch-dependent switch from a mitotic cell cycle to an endocycle. For this reason, phosphohistone 3 (PH3), a marker for mitotic cells, is detected only until that stage and never later. In contrast, hpo mutant anterior and posterior FCs are often positive for PH3 at stage 7-10B, indicating that these cells are still dividing. Similar results are obtained in yki overexpressing FCs. Taken together, these findings show that the SWH pathway is required for the control of proliferation at the anterior and posterior FCs (Meignin, 2007).

The formation of a multilayered epithelium was also observed in stage 3-5 mutant FCs, although the number of dividing cells is similar to that of the wild-type. It has been recently shown that the aberrant orientation of the mitotic spindle in the FCs results in the formation of a multilayered epithelium. Therefore the orientation of the mitotic spindle was analyzed in wild-type and hpo mutant cells. It was observed that, contrary to wild-type cells, the mitotic spindle in mutant FCs is often at an angle or perpendicular to the membrane. This aberrant orientation disrupts the remaining daughter cells within the same plane, thereby resulting in a bilayered epithelium (Meignin, 2007).

Often, tumor suppressors are important for the polarity of the epithelia. To determine whether this is the case for the SWH pathway, the atypical (novel) Protein Kinase C (nPKC), an apical marker, and Disc large (Dlg), a lateral marker, were examined in the FCs. In wild-type cells, as well as in hpo mutant FCs that maintain a monolayer epithelium, nPKC and Dlg localize at the apical and lateral membrane, respectively. However, when the mutant epithelium forms several layers of cells, nPKC and Dlg are often mislocalized, with a reduction of the nPKC staining and an expansion of the Dlg-positive membrane. Nevertheless, a certain degree of the polarity in these cells is maintained because nPKC is always apical in the cells that are in contact with the oocyte (Meignin, 2007).

Because SWH pathway mutant cells do not exit mitosis and keep dividing, it is possible that their differentiation is impaired. To address this question, the expression of Fasciclin III (FasIII) and eyes absent (eya) were analyzed in wild-type and wts and hpo mutant FCs. FasIII and Eya are downregulated in a Notch-dependent manner in the main-body FCs after stage 6 of oogenesis. However, the levels of FasIII in hpo mutant PFCs and Eya in wts mutant PFCs remain high after stage 6. To further assess the effect of the SWH pathway on the Notch-dependent maturation of the FCs, the expression of Hindsight (Hnt), a transcription factor that is upregulated by Notch signaling in all FCs was examined.. In hpo posterior FC clones, this Hnt upregulation is blocked. Contrary to notch clones, however, hpo lateral and anterior clones do not show defects in FasIII, Eya, or Hnt expression. Furthermore, border, centripetal, and stretched cells that are mutant for hpo migrate normally. Considering all these results together, it is concluded that the SWH pathway is essential for the PFCs to fully differentiate (Meignin, 2007).

The findings described above, together with the proliferation defects in hpo and wts mutant cells, suggest that the SWH pathway is required for Notch signaling. To test whether this is the case, the expression of universal Notch transcriptional reporters was analyzed in wild-type and hpo mutant FCs. In wild-type egg chambers, the Notch reporter E(spl)mß7-lacZ is expressed in all FCs upon Notch activation at stage 6 of oogenesis. In contrast, it was found that in hpo mutant cells, the levels of E(spl)mß7-lacZ are weakly reduced in 53% of the clones and normally expressed in the rest. It has been shown that in wing imaginal discs, mer and ex are required to control Notch localization in the cell and consequently its activity. Similarly, the subcellular distribution of Notch is affected in hpo mutant FCs. Contrary to the wild-type, in which Notch accumulates in the apical membrane, Notch expands to other membranes and is often detected in clusters in hpo clones. The results point out that hpo is essential in the PFCs for the Notch-dependent expression of several differentiation markers, such as FasIII, Eya, and Hnt, and for Notch subcellular localization. These observations and the weak defects on the Notch reporters support a function of the SWH pathway in modulating Notch signaling (Meignin, 2007).

Because the SWH pathway is required for the polarization of the oocyte, as well as for the differentiation of the PFCs, whether the mutant cells are competent to respond to Grk and indeed adopt a posterior fate was analyzed. Dystroglycan (DG) is expressed in all FCs at early stages of oogenesis, but upon Grk signaling, DG forms an AP gradient with lower levels at the PFCs. The fact that this Grk-dependent gradient of DG is also observed in the hpo mutant epithelia suggests that the mutant cells are responsive to the Grk signaling. Similarly, when hpo clones affect only a portion of the PFCs, the posterior fate marker pointed is expressed as in the wild-type in 40% of the cases. However, in 60% of the egg chambers with partial hpo posterior clones, and in all cases when all the PFCs are mutant, the expression of pointed is abolished. These results illustrate that hpo is required to fully process the Grk/EGFR signal in the PFCs. Conversely, in grk mutant egg chambers, the Hpo-dependent expression of Hnt is not affected, suggesting that the EGFR pathway is not required for the activation of the SWH pathway in the PFCs (Meignin, 2007).

Considering all these results together, it is concluded that the SWH pathway is involved in the Notch- and Gurken-dependent maturation of the PFCs. Whether the SWH pathway modulates this maturation directly or indirectly, for example by affecting membrane properties, needs to be further investigated (Meignin, 2007).

To study whether the oocyte polarity defects in egg chambers with FCs mutants for the SWH pathway are a consequence of the FCs proliferation and differentiation defects, egg chambers with ex and ft mutant PFCs were analyzed. Egg chambers with ft PFCs occasionally form a bilayer, although they never have defects in oocyte polarity, suggesting that the morphological disruption of the epithelia in itself does not block the repolarizing signal. Egg chambers with ex PFCs show weak defects in the epithelium, with a bilayer rarely formed and restricted to only a few mutant cells, but Stau is never properly localized. However, Hnt is not properly expressed in stage 7 ex mutant FCs, suggesting that the mislocalization of Stau is a consequence of the ex mutant cells being undifferentiated at the stage when the repolarizing signal is sent to the oocyte. These results suggest that the defects in oocyte polarity are probably due to a lack of proper differentiation of FCs in SWH mutant egg chambers (Meignin, 2007).

This study has analyzed the requirement of the SWH pathway during oogenesis. Several of the components of this pathway, but not ft, are required in the PFCs to induce the axis specification in the germline. The defects in oocyte polarity, however, are probably due to a lack of proper differentiation of the PFCs in SWH mutant egg chambers. In addition, the pathway is required in the terminal cells to control their proliferation. It has already been shown that terminal follicle cells are different from lateral follicle cells. The distinct spatial requirement of the SWH pathway for differentiation and proliferation is another feature that distinguishes the terminal from the lateral FCs, and the posterior from the anterior FCs. These results point out that this dual function of the SWH pathway might be achieved by modulation of the Notch and EGFR signals. In conclusion, the SWH pathway lies at the intersection of two signaling pathways and is permissive for the signal that is sent from the follicle cells to repolarize the oocyte (Meignin, 2007).

Salvador-warts-hippo signaling promotes Drosophila posterior follicle cell maturation downstream of notch

The Salvador Warts Hippo (SWH) network limits tissue size in Drosophila and vertebrates. Decreased SWH pathway activity gives rise to excess proliferation and reduced apoptosis. The core of the SWH network is composed of two serine/threonine kinases Hippo (Hpo) and Warts (Wts), the scaffold proteins Salvador (Sav) and Mats, and the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie (Yki). Two band 4.1 related proteins, Merlin (Mer) and Expanded (Ex), have been proposed to act upstream of Hpo, which in turn activates Wts. Wts phosphorylates and inhibits Yki, repressing the expression of Yki target genes. Recently, several planar cell polarity (PCP) genes have been implicated in the SWH network in growth control. This study shows that, during oogenesis, the core components of the SWH network are required in posterior follicle cells (PFCs) competent to receive the Gurken (Grk)/TGFβ signal emitted by the oocyte to control body axis formation. These results suggest that the SWH network controls the expression of Hindsight, the downstream effector of Notch, required for follicle cell mitotic cycle-endocycle switch. The PCP members of the SWH network are not involved in this process, indicating that signaling upstream of Hpo varies according to developmental context (Polesello, 2007).

Body axis formation is a critical stage of development in most multicellular organisms. In Drosophila melanogaster, the anteroposterior (AP) body axis is determined by the polarization of the developing oocyte. The egg chamber is composed of 16 germ cells (15 nurse cells plus the oocyte) and the follicular epithelium. Specification of the AP axis requires active transport of several mRNAs along the microtubule network, thereby resulting in asymmetric mRNA and protein localization inside the oocyte. For example, bicoid (bcd) and oskar (osk) mRNAs localize to and control the formation of the anterior and posterior poles, respectively. This process is initiated through bidirectional signaling between the oocyte and the adjacent follicle cells. In midoogenesis egg chambers, grk mRNA is localized between the oocyte nucleus and the plasma membrane at the presumptive posterior pole and targets the Grk signal to the posterior follicle cells (PFCs) only. Grk is believed to be the ligand for the Torpedo/DER (EGFR) signaling pathway, which controls PFC identity. Once they are specified, the PFCs send an unknown signal back to the oocyte; this signal is required to establish oocyte posterior polarity (Polesello, 2007).

Mer, which has recently been proposed to be part of the SWH network in tissue-size control, has been suggested to play a role in signal back. Therefore whether other members of this network could play a role in body axis formation was addressed. It was tested whether hpo, like mer, is required in PFCs to control oocyte polarity by generating FLP/FRT mitotic clones of mutant cells in the egg chamber was tested with either a kinase-dead (hpo^JM1) or a truncating (hpo^BF33) allele of hpo. These two alleles behave similarly in all subsequent experiments (Polesello, 2007).

In wild-type egg chambers, the RNA-binding proteins Staufen (Stau) and Osk are localized in a crescent at the posterior pole of the oocyte. When the PFCs were mutant for hpo (visualized by the lack of GFP), both Osk and Stau are mislocalized. If all PFCs were mutant, both Stau and Osk were found in the middle of the oocyte or were absent in some cases for Osk. When hpo clones affected only a portion of the PFCs, Stau was mislocalized almost exclusively in the mutant part, showing the importance of the crosstalk between PFCs and the oocyte (Polesello, 2007).

In hpo germline clones, Stau localization is unaffected if the PFCs are wild-type, suggesting that Hpo is not required for secretion of the Grk signal by the oocyte. Similarly, hpo activity in polar cells is not sufficient to rescue hpo PFC phenotypes because chambers with mutant PFCs and wild-type (GFP-positive) polar cells show disrupted Stau localization. Together, these data suggest that hpo is required in the PFCs to control oocyte polarity (Polesello, 2007).

By using Stau localization as a readout, it was found that like mer and hpo, ex, sav, mats, wts, and yki are playing a role in PFCs to control oocyte polarity, suggesting that 'canonical' Hpo signaling is responsible for the observed phenotype. In contrast, fat (ft) and discs overgrown (dco) are not required in PFCs to control oocyte polarity. This suggests that the core components of the SWH network but not the SWH-associated PCP genes are required for anteroposterior axis formation (Polesello, 2007).

The microtubule cytoskeleton plays an active role in the correct localization of posterior determinants such as Osk mRNA and Stau. Therefore, whether the microtubules are normally organized when the PFCs were mutant for hpo was tested. The oocyte nucleus is initially positioned at the posterior pole (up to stage 6) and migrates to an anterodorsal localization in a microtubule-dependent manner after the signal back from the PFCs (stages 7-14). The oocyte nucleus fails to migrate to an anterodorsal position in 50% of egg chambers with PFC hpo clones. The expression of a tubulin-GFP fusion protein was drived in the germline to visualize the microtubule network. In control oocytes, tubulin-GFP forms a regular network of filaments with a stronger accumulation at the anterior pole corresponding to the nucleation site. Egg chambers with hpo mutant PFCs present ectopic Tubulin-GFP accumulation at the posterior pole of the oocyte. Apart from this defect, the general aspect of the microtubule network is normal in egg chambers with hpo PFC clones, even when the oocyte nucleus has failed to migrate to the anterior end. Finally, microtubule polarity was examined by using both Nod-βGalactosidase (Nod-βGal, minus end marker-anterior) and Kinesin-βGalactosidase (Kin-βGal, plus end marker-posterior) fusion proteins. When the PFCs were mutants for hpo, Nod-βGal was present at both poles or only at the posterior of the oocyte when the nucleus failed to migrate. When all PFCs were hpo mutant, Kin-βGal localization was in a diffuse cloud in the middle of the ooplasm. As for Stau, only half of the Kin-βGal was normally localized when only part of the PFCs were hpo mutant. Together these data support the idea that core components of the SWH pathway are required in the PFCs to build oocyte polarity, controlling microtubule-network orientation (Polesello, 2007).

Because the SWH network is known to control cell number, a phosphorylated Histone 3 (PH3) antibody was used to follow cell division in the follicle cells. During egg-chamber development, follicle cells undergo normal mitotic divisions up to stage 6, thereby giving rise to ~650 follicle cells surrounding the germ cells. Follicle cells then switch from mitotic cycles to three rounds of endoreplication cycles (endocycles) during stages 7-10A. Thus, follicle cells normally stop proliferating after stage 6, as assayed by the absence of PH3-positive cells. hpo PFC clones still contained PH3-positive cells until stage 10B. This excess proliferation observed in hpo mutant cells gives rise to both a reduction of the size of follicle cell nuclei (reduced endocycling) and formation of double layers of cells at the posterior of the egg chamber. Formation of extra layers in the follicular epithelium has been reported to result from misorientation of the mitotic spindle. Normally, the mitotic spindle is parallel to the surface of the germline cells but appears randomly oriented in hpo mutant PFCs because both parallel and perpendicularly oriented spindles were observed. This defect in the mitotic-spindle orientation is probably responsible for the double-layer formation. The proliferation defect specifically affects PFCs because reduced nuclei, ectopic PH3 foci or double layers were not obvious elsewhere. Finally, it was found that loss of the core components of the SWH network, but not of ex for which the proliferation defect is weaker, produced a double cell layer (Polesello, 2007).

In imaginal discs, loss of SWH pathway genes leads to increased expression of Yki target genes. Whether this is also the case in PFCs was tested. As expected, disruption of SWH activity in PFCs gave rise to an increase in ex expression, although no changes were detected in DIAP1 or cycE expression. ex upregulation was restricted to the PFCs in both wts mutant cells and yki gain-of-function experiments. These results suggest that core components of the SWH network specifically control proliferation of a particular subset of follicle cells required for body axis establishment (Polesello, 2007).

Because hpo mutant PFCs were still dividing after stage 6, whether hpo loss of function could affect PFC polarity was assessed. Armadillo (Arm) and Discs large (Dlg) normally label the adherens junctions and the lateral region of the cell, respectively. In hpo mutant PFCs, these were found all around the cells. In addition, the level of Arm, atypical Protein Kinase C (aPKC), and phosphorylated Moesin (P-Moe) were increased. Nevertheless, some aspects of the polarity in these cells were preserved because aPKC was still localized in the apical domain facing the oocyte (Polesello, 2007).

Grk signals via the EGF receptor Torpedo (Top) and activates the Ras signaling pathway, specifying the PFC identity. The PFC fate can be followed by the expression of the Ras target pointed (pnt-LacZ). In the absence of hpo, pnt-LacZ expression was disrupted in most but not all PFC clones. Nevertheless, hpo mutant PFCs were still able to activate the Jak/STAT pathway in response to a signal emerging from the polar cells, (monitored with a STAT reporter suggesting that the polarity defect observed in hpo mutant PFCs does not affect their ability to receive secreted signals in general. wts mutant PFCs were negative for the dpp-LacZ reporter, a specific marker of the anterior follicle cell fate (stretch and centripetal cells), suggesting that when the SWH pathway is compromised, the PFCs are not merely transformed into anterior cells. In addition, it was found that hpo mutant PFCs present characteristics of immature cells such as maintenance of Fasciclin III (FASIII) and eyes absent (eya) expression. Normally, the level of these two genes is downregulated when the follicle cells switch from mitotic cycles to endocycles. It is noted that, when hpo mutant PFCs were FASIII positive, they did not express pnt-LacZ and vice versa. In addition, it was found that pnt-LacZ-positive hpo mutant PFCs have normal Stau localization. This suggests that the primary defect in hpo mutant cells is the failure to mature. In the rare cases where hpo mutant PFCs mature properly, they are competent to transduce the Grk signal, and oocyte polarity is normal (Polesello, 2007).

Notch (N) is required in the follicle cells for the mitotic-endocycle switch that occurs at stage 6 and for controlling follicle cell identity. N mutant follicle cells, like hpo mutant PFCs, keep proliferating because they are stuck in an immature state and continue to express undifferentiated markers such as FASIII. Recently, members of the SWH network were reported to modulate N activity by affecting its subcellular localization. N protein, which localizes to the apical part of the follicle cells, is downregulated at midoogenesis. This downregulation is delayed in wts and hpo mutant PFCs, possibly causing a defect in N signaling. Hindsight (Hnt), a target of N, which starts to be expressed in all follicle cells at stage 7 after N activation, was examined. Expression of Hnt in hpo mutant PFCs is compromised. In addition, it was found that the expression of Cut, which is normally inhibited by Hnt at stage 7, was maintained in hpo and wts clones up to stage 10. Finally, whether the modulation of N activity by the SWH network was direct was tested by looking at the expression of direct N reporters. no obvious reduction of the m7-LacZ reporter was found in hpo PFC clones. However, because of the perdurance of the β-galactosidase protein, this type of reporter is more suitable to follow increases rather than decreases in signaling. It therefore cannot be entirely rule out that the SWH network might directly affect Notch activity. Nevertheless, together these data show that inactivation of the SWH network compromises the regulation of downstream targets of Notch such as Hnt and Cut. As is the case for FASIII, misregulation of these genes is restricted to the PFCs in a SWH mutant background (Polesello, 2007).

Because of this spatial restriction of SWH activity to PFCs, whether the SWH network could be part of the Torpedo/Ras pathway acting downstream of the Grk signal was tested. ras, wts double loss-of-function clones were examined. ras, wts clones present characteristics of both ras and wts single-mutant clones, namely upregulation of Dystroglycan (DG), as observed in ras clones, and maintenance of FASIII protein, as observed in wts clones. In addition, grk mutant egg chambers present only DG upregulation but no FASIII modification and no substantial change in ex expression. It is therefore concludes that the SWH network and EGFR/Ras signaling are likely to act in parallel to control respectively PFC maturation and identity and that Grk is not the ligand that controls the SWH network activation (Polesello, 2007).

A last concern was to test whether the SWH network is involved in the PFC signal back that controls oocyte polarity. To tackle this point, attempts were made to uncouple the possible signal back to the oocyte from the PFC maturation phenotypes. ex loss of function, which affects Stau localization but presents a very reduced proliferation rate and double-layer formation compared to other SWH members, was examined. Unfortunately, ex loss of function still affected Arm, FASIII, and Cut protein levels in the PFCs, in particular at midoogenesis, when both the N and Grk signals act. Therefore mer, cut double mutants were generated. In theory, this should force the cells to differentiate (lack of cut) and still affect SWH activity (lack of mer). As expected, whereas mer loss of function alone elicited both Cut upregulation and Stau mislocalization, mer/cut PFC clones were able to induce normal oocyte polarity, manifested by correct Stau localization. It is concluded that the activity of the SWH network is required to control PFC maturation, but this pathway is probably not involved in the signal-back process (Polesello, 2007).

In conclusion, this study has shown that the core components of the SWH network are required specifically to allow the maturation of the PFCs receiving the Grk signal, thus controlling AP body axis formation. The PFC defect is due to a lack of Hnt expression in response to Notch signaling. Because the function of the SWH network is restricted to the PFCs, one interesting speculation is that it is an added layer of Notch regulation specific to PFCs, which, given their crucial role in initiating body axis formation, need robust control of signaling. Placing this regulatory element in complement and in parallel to the signal that initiates PFC specification (Grk) would ensure, in cooperation with the Unpaired signal (Jak/STAT pathway) from the polar cells, a tight and robust boundary between the PFCs and the rest of the follicle cells (Polesello, 2007).

Finally the results make a clear distinction between the core components of the SWH network (hpo, sav, wts, mats, and yki) and mer, ex on one hand and the PCP genes (ft and dco) on the other. It is speculated that the core components are used in a variety of contexts during development, whereas the PCP genes are restricted to organ-size specification (Polesello, 2007).

The Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway regulates apical-domain size in parallel to tissue growth

The Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway controls tissue growth in Drosophila and mammals by regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis. The Hippo pathway includes the Fat cadherin, a transmembrane protein, which acts upstream of several other components that form a kinase cascade that culminates in the regulation of gene expression through the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie (Yki). Work in Drosophila has indicated indicated that Merlin (Mer) and Expanded (Ex) are members of the Hippo pathway and act upstream of the Hippo kinase. In contrast to this model, it was suggested that Mer and Ex primarily regulate membrane dynamics and receptor trafficking, thereby affecting Hippo pathway activity only indirectly. This study examined the effects of Mer, Ex and the Hippo pathway on the size of the apical membrane and on apical-basal polarity complexes. It was found that mer;ex double mutant imaginal disc cells have significantly increased levels of apical membrane determinants, such as Crb, aPKC and Patj. These phenotypes were shared with mutations in other Hippo pathway components and required Yki, indicating that Mer and Ex signal through the Hippo pathway. Interestingly, however, whereas Crb was required for the accumulation of other apical proteins and for the expansion of the apical domain observed in Hippo pathway mutants, its elimination did not significantly reverse the overgrowth phenotype of warts mutant cells. Therefore, Hippo signaling regulates cell polarity complexes in addition to and independently of its growth control function in imaginal disc cells (Hamaratoglu, 2009).

The results show that the Hippo pathway regulates the amount of apical protein complexes and thereby the size of the apical domain and that this effect is independent of its growth control function. Importantly, the regulation of apical complexes is a specific effect of the Hippo pathway, since other growth control pathways do not regulate apical complexes. In addition, this effect of the Hippo pathway is a general effect, since upregulation of apical complexes was observed in multiple tissues and cell types. Although overexpression of Crb and aPKC are sufficient to drive extra growth, the results show that the upregulation of apical complexes is not required for the overgrowth phenotype and for the induction of Hippo target genes in wts mutant cells. It is thus concluded that the Hippo pathway regulates the amount of apical complexes in Drosophila imaginal disc cells in addition to and independently of its growth control function (Hamaratoglu, 2009).

It has been suggested that Mer and Ex regulate the levels of membrane receptors independently of the Hippo pathway. However, the current results show that the upregulation of DER, Ft and apical complexes was similar in hpo and wts mutant cells and mer;ex double mutant cells, and that this effect requires Yki. These results thus indicate that Mer and Ex act through the Hippo pathway to exert their effect and that they are bona fide members of the Hippo pathway. Similar conclusions have been drawn based on observations that overexpression of wts suppresses the lethality and overgrowth phenotypes of ex mutants (Hamaratoglu, 2009 and references therein).

How does the Hippo pathway regulate the size of the apical domain and the amount of the apical complexes? The observation that Yki is required and sufficient for the effect on the apical domain indicates that this effect of the Hippo pathway is mediated by transcriptional regulation. However, although the upregulation of Crb is necessary and sufficient for the expansion of the apical domain and for the accumulation of the other apical polarity complex proteins, it is not required for the upregulation of DER and Ft, which still accumulate in wts,crb double mutant cells. Thus a model is favored in which the Hippo pathway regulates the turnover of several apical membrane components, for example through regulation of endocytosis. Notably mer;ex mutant cells in wing imaginal discs have defects in Notch (N) endocytosis, which leads to accumulation of N. Moreover, the endosomal protein Hrs accumulates in hpo mutant follicle cells in Drosophila ovaries, and this study observed a similar accumulation of Hrs in wts mutant clones in imaginal discs. These observations thus support the hypothesis that Hippo signaling regulates the amount of endocytosis and membrane turnover, thereby affecting the amount of apical membrane proteins. The target of Yki that mediates these effects, however, is currently not known (Hamaratoglu, 2009).

Several other studies also demonstrated roles for the Hippo pathway beyond its function in growth control. For example, the Hippo pathway is required for the proper selection of photoreceptor subtypes in the Drosophila eye, and it is required in follicle cells to generate a signal that polarizes the underlying oocyte. For both of these functions, Hippo signals through Yki, but Yki may regulate different sets of target genes, since the phenotypic effects are different. In addition, the Hippo pathway regulates cellular behavior through pathways that may not require Yki and thus may not involve the regulation of gene expression. For example, Yki-independent functions of the Hippo pathway may regulate dendritic tiling of larval neurons and the death of salivary gland cells during metamorphosis. The finding that Hippo regulates apical polarity complexes in addition to and independently of its growth control function in imaginal discs cells thus further reveals the complex function of this pathway in the regulation of cellular behavior (Hamaratoglu, 2009).

Regulation of leg size and shape by the Dachsous/Fat signalling pathway during regeneration

An amputated cricket leg regenerates all missing parts with normal size and shape, indicating that regenerating blastemal cells are aware of both their position and the normal size of the leg. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating this process remain elusive. This study used a cricket model (the two-spotted cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus) to show that the Dachsous/Fat (Ds/Ft) signalling pathway is essential for leg regeneration. Knockdown of ft or ds transcripts by regeneration-dependent RNA interference (rdRNAi) suppressed proliferation of the regenerating cells along the proximodistal (PD) axis concomitantly with remodelling of the pre-existing stump, making the regenerated legs shorter than normal. By contrast, knockdown of the expanded (ex) or Merlin (Mer) transcripts induced over-proliferation of the regenerating cells, making the regenerated legs longer. These results are consistent with those obtained using rdRNAi during intercalary regeneration induced by leg transplantation. A model is presented to explain these results in which the steepness of the Ds/Ft gradient controls growth along the PD axis of the regenerating leg (Bando, 2009).

Regeneration-dependent RNAi is a type of RNAi that occurs specifically after leg amputation in cricket nymphs that have been injected with double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) for a target gene (Nakamura, 2008a). In this system, when the metathoracic (T3) tibia of the third-instar nymph is amputated, it takes approximately 40 days (six ecdyses) to restore the adult leg. The process begins with the covering of the amputated region by newly formed cuticle. A ligand of Epidermal growth factor receptor (Gb'Egfr) is then induced by Decapentaplegic (Gb'Dpp) and Wingless (Gb'Wg) in a blastema composed of epithelial stem cells, which begins to undergo rapid proliferation to restore the lost portion in the fourth instar (Mito, 2002; Nakamura, 2008b). In the fifth instar, the tibiae, tibial spurs, tarsi and tarsal claws are restored in miniature. In the seventh instar, the amputated legs restore the missing portion to regain a nearly normal appearance. As no leg regeneration was observed after amputation in the case of rdRNAi against Gb'armadillo (Gb'arm), the canonical Wnt pathway should be involved in the initiation of the regeneration (Nakamura, 2007; Bando, 2009 and references therein).

Using an RNAi knockdown approach against 23 candidate genes, this study identified 15 components of the Ds/Ft signalling pathway that are involved in cricket leg regeneration. Based on additional data from Gryllus and Drosophila, a model signalling cascade was proposed for the regulation of leg regeneration by the Ds/Ft signalling pathway. As the main components of the Ds/Ft signalling pathways are conserved in vertebrates, this signalling cascade may also be involved in vertebrate leg regeneration (Bando, 2009).

The most typical phenotypes were the short and thick legs induced by rdRNAi against Gb'ft or Gb'ds. It is known that the size of each leg segment normally scales with overall body size, a phenomenon known as allometry. Surprisingly, the size of the regenerated legs in the phenotypes that were observed did not scale with overall body size. Furthermore, the size of the regenerated legs depended upon the site of tibial amputation. It is noteworthy that, although the expression patterns of Gb'ft and Gb'ds were different, their short and thick phenotypes were similar. This is consistent with the fact that Drosophila mutant phenotypes of both ft and ds in adult legs are short and thick, despite the fact that ft and ds have distinct expression patterns in Drosophila imaginal discs. Thus, it is concluded that the activity of Ds/Ft signalling regulates leg segment size and shape during regeneration. Furthermore, it was shown that the Ds/Ft signalling pathway may regulate leg size during regeneration through the Hpo signalling pathway. This is also supported by the fact that the Hpo signalling pathway is involved in an intrinsic mechanism that restricts organ size and that the Ds/Ft signalling system defines a cell-to-cell signalling mechanism that regulates the Hpo pathway, thereby contributing to the control of organ size (Bando, 2009).

Meinhardt pointed out that two processes operate during leg regeneration. One, which operates during the restoration of distal structures, is instructed by a morphogen epidermal growth factor (Egf), which is itself induced by two morphogens, Dpp and Wg, at the amputated surface (Meinhardt, 1982; Mito, 2002; Nakamura, 2008a). The other, operating in intercalary regeneration, is directly controlled by neighbouring cells at the junction between host and graft, but not by long-range morphogens (Meinhardt, 2007; Nakamura, 2008a). It is likely that the Ds/Ft signalling pathway participates in both mechanisms, because rdRNAi against Gb'ft or Gb'ds affected leg regeneration after either distal amputation or intercalary transplantation. In the case of distal amputation, as the Gryllus tarsi and claws were not restored after tibial amputation in the Gb'Egfr rdRNAi nymphs (Nakamura, 2008a), it has been speculated that Gb'Egf functions as a morphogen in the leg regeneration, as found in Drosophila leg imaginal discs. Recently, it has been demonstrated in the Drosophila wing disc that the Fat signalling pathway links the morphogen-mediated establishment of gradients of positional values across developing organs to the regulation of organ growth. Thus, it is speculated that the Ds/Ft system links the Egf-mediated establishment of gradients of positional values across regenerating blastemal cells to the regulation of regenerate growth (Bando, 2009).

As Gb'd rdRNAi legs exhibited the short-leg phenotypes, but not thick ones, and Gb'd (decapentaplegic) is epistatic of Gb'ft and Gb'ds, Gb'D may mediate the components of Ds/Ft signalling controlling leg size. The enlarged phenotype of Gb'wts RNAi nymphs was suppressed by RNAi against Gb'd in Gryllus, indicating that Gb'd is downstream of Gb'wts. This result differs from Drosophila data. A genetic analysis is necessary to confirm the difference, because the epistatic allele is not null in RNAi experiments. As the phenotype of rdRNAi treatment against Gb'ds was weaker than that against Gb'ft, as reported in the corresponding Drosophila mutants, Gb'Ft may interact with factors that are as yet unidentified. Although the effect of rdRNAi against Gb'fj on leg size was very mild, the possible involvement of Gb'fj in allometric growth cannot be excluded. The short phenotypes were observed in the Gb'sd RNAi nymphal legs, so it remains a possibility that Gb'sd is involved in allometric leg growth. However, the apparent contribution of the Hpo-Sav-Mats complex is as yet uncertain (Bando, 2009).

Regenerated legs of Gb'ex and Gb'Mer RNAi adults become longer than normal control legs, and Gb'ex and Gb'Mer regulate cell proliferation induced by the presence of positional disparity. These results suggest that Gb'ex and Gb'Mer are also involved in allometric growth of the leg segment. In Drosophila, Ex and Mer negatively regulate cell growth and proliferation through the Hpo/Wts pathway. In mammalian cells, Nf2 (merlin) is known to be a crucial regulator of contact-dependent inhibition of proliferation (Curto, 2008). Thus, it is concluded that activities of Ex and Mer may regulate contact-dependent inhibition of proliferation via the Wts signalling pathway to restore the proper leg segment size during regeneration (Bando, 2009).

A widely accepted model for leg regeneration is the intercalation model, based on positional information. This model is based on the intercalation of new structures so as to re-establish continuity of positional values during regeneration. However, on the basis of this model, it is difficult to explain the changes in leg size that were observed in the present study. Thus, the model need to be extended to include the control of growth and tissue size during regeneration. Several models have been proposed to explain how organ size is regulated. Lawrence (2008) proposed a model, which is referred to here as the Ds/Ft steepness model, to explain the mechanisms underlying the determination of organ size and PCP, including the Warts/Hippo pathway as the mechanism for controlling growth. In this model, it was hypothesized that: (1) the morphogens responsible for the overall pattern of an organ establish and orient the Ds/Ft system, which then forms a linear Ds/Ft gradient. The nature of the Ds/Ft gradient is unknown, although the number of Ds/Ft trans heterodimers is the key variable; (2) the steepness of the Ds/Ft gradient regulates Hpo target expression and cell proliferation, and its direction provides information used to establish the correct cellular polarity; (3) growth would be expected to cease when the slope of the gradient declines below a certain threshold value; and (4) the maximum and minimum limits of the system are conserved, while recently divided cells take up intermediate scalar values from their neighbours (Bando, 2009).

Using this model, a modified Ds/Ft steepness model is proposed for leg regeneration acting as follows. The results indicate that nymphal leg regeneration depends on two major processes: (1) proliferation and differentiation of blastemal cells and (2) growth of the pre-existing stump. In each of these processes, new positional identities are specified in relation to new segment boundaries. According to the Ds/Ft steepness model, in normal regeneration, a very steep gradient should be formed in the regenerating blastema. The regenerate may grow so as to restore the normal pre-existing steepness. Reassignment of positional identities after amputation will correlate with a similar re-setting of the minimum Ds/Ft scalar value, and the results are consistent with the steepness hypothesis (Bando, 2009).

Growth of the pre-existing stump is a normal component of leg growth, in which the pre-existing stump cells proliferate according to some allometric signals, which may be related to the maximum scalar value and a slope of the gradient, keeping their original positional information. This was observed in the truncated leg of Gb'arm rdRNAi adults (Nakamura, 2007; Bando, 2009).

In the absence of the proliferation and differentiation of blastemal cells, as observed in the Gb'ft rdRNAi leg, the minimum scalar value, which is the most distal positional value, would be established at the site of amputation, and the Ds/Ft gradient would be expected, in turn, to shift down with the same slope as the pre-existing one. The Ds/Ft steepness model provides an explanation for the observation that the final leg size depends on the amputated position, if it is assumed that the gradient shifts down with the same slope as that where cells at an amputated position have the minimum scalar value. Thus, the observed re-specification of regeneration legs induced in the legs treated with rdRNAi against Gb'ft or Gb'ds is as would be predicted by the Ds/Ft steepness model. Thus, it is likely that the Ds/Ft gradient functions to link positional and allometric information to the regulation of leg segment growth. Furthermore, if it is assumed that the activity of Ex/Mer is related to a threshold value of the slope of the gradient that determines when growth ceases, all rdRNAi phenotypes in the present study can be interpreted consistently with the Ds/Ft steepness model for regeneration (Bando, 2009).

Differential requirement of Salvador-Warts-Hippo pathway members for organ size control in Drosophila melanogaster

The Salvador-Warts-Hippo (SWH) pathway contains multiple growth-inhibitory proteins that control organ size during development by limiting activity of the Yorkie oncoprotein. Increasing evidence indicates that these growth inhibitors act in a complex network upstream of Yorkie. This complexity is emphasised by the distinct phenotypes of tissue lacking different SWH pathway genes. For example, eye tissue lacking the core SWH pathway components salvador, warts or hippo is highly overgrown and resistant to developmental apoptosis, whereas tissue lacking fat or expanded is not. This study explores the relative contribution of SWH pathway proteins to organ size control by determining their temporal activity profile throughout Drosophila eye development. Eye tissue lacking fat, expanded or discs overgrown displays elevated Yorkie activity during the larval growth phase of development, but not in the pupal eye when apoptosis ensues. Fat and Expanded do possess Yorkie-repressive activity in the pupal eye, but loss of fat or expanded at this stage of development can be compensated for by Merlin. Fat appears to repress Yorkie independently of Dachs in the pupal eye, which would contrast with the mode of action of Fat during larval development. Fat is more likely to restrict Yorkie activity in the pupal eye together with Expanded, given that pupal eye tissue lacking both these genes resembles that of tissue lacking either gene. This study highlights the complexity employed by different SWH pathway proteins to control organ size at different stages of development (Milton, 2010).

The SWH pathway controls Drosophila eye size by limiting growth during the larval stage of development and by restricting proliferation and promoting apoptosis during pupal development. Eyes lacking core SWH pathway components (e.g. sav, wts or hpo) are significantly larger than eyes lacking the non-core components ft, ex, dco or Mer. Owing to this disparity, it has been hypothesized that ft and ex only partially affect SWH pathway activity, whereas sav, wts and hpo have stronger effects, or, alternatively, that non-core components affect pathway activity in a temporally restricted fashion. Analysis of tissue recessive for ft, ex or dco³ revealed that Yki activity was elevated during larval eye development when tissues are actively growing and proliferating, but not during pupal development when apoptosis ensues, supporting the idea that Ft, Ex and Dco influence SWH pathway activity in a temporally restricted fashion. However, when tissue lacking both Mer and ft, or Mer and ex, was analysed, Yki activity was found to be elevated during both larval and pupal development, similar to the Yki activity profile observed in tissue lacking core SWH pathway proteins. This is consistent with previous reports showing that Mer acts in parallel to both Ft and Ex, and that these proteins can compensate for each other to control SWH pathway activity. Therefore, Ft and Ex do contribute to SWH pathway regulation in the pupal eye to ensure appropriate exit from the cell cycle and developmental apoptosis, but these functions can be executed by Mer in their absence, suggesting a degree of plasticity in the regulation of Yki activity by non-core SWH pathway proteins. The ability of Mer to compensate for Ft or Ex cannot simply be explained by compensatory increases in Mer protein in pupal eye tissues lacking ft or ex, since Mer expression levels were found to be unaltered in these tissues (Milton, 2010).

Previous analyses of tissue lacking both ft and ex showed that these proteins function, at least in part, in parallel to control growth of larval imaginal discs. The current analysis of ft,ex double-mutant tissue suggests that these proteins are likely to function together to control Yki activity in the pupal eye. Yki activity was not elevated in tissue lacking ft, ex or both genes, showing that these genes cannot compensate for each other in the pupal eye. This is consistent with the notion that Ft influences the activity of downstream SWH pathway proteins by multiple mechanisms, an idea that is supported by THE analysis of the requirement of the atypical myosin, Dachs, for Ft signalling in the pupal eye. During larval imaginal disc development, Ft can influence Yki activity by repressing Dachs activity, which in turn can repress the core SWH pathway protein Wts. Analysis of pupal eye tissue that lacks both Mer and ft, or Mer, ft and dachs, showed that Yki activity was elevated in each scenario. This shows that in the pupal eye, the ability of Ft to compensate for Mer is not reliant on Dachs, and implies that Ft can employ different modes of signal transduction throughout eye development. However, because Ft and Mer can compensate for each other it is not possible to formally conclude that normal signal transduction by Ft in the pupal eye occurs independently of Dachs (Milton, 2010).

Expression of Ex is tightly controlled in response to alterations in SWH pathway activity at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Interestingly, it was also found that Ex expression is controlled in a temporal fashion throughout eye development; Ex is expressed at relatively high levels in the larval eye, but at very low levels in the pupal eye. Despite the fact that Ex expression is very low in the pupal eye, it clearly retains function at this stage of development because it can compensate for loss of Mer to restrict Yki activity. The dynamic expression profile of Ex suggests that factors that influence its expression play an important role in defining overall eye size in Drosophila. At present, only two transcriptional regulatory proteins have been shown to influence the expression of ex: Yki and Sd. There are conflicting reports on whether Yki and Sd control basal expression of ex in larval imaginal discs. It is clear, however, that Yki and Sd collaborate to drive ex expression when the activity of the SWH pathway is suppressed, presumably as part of a negative-feedback loop. Despite the fact that basal ex expression is low in the pupal eye, the ex promoter is still responsive to Yki, as Ex expression is substantially elevated in pupal eye clones lacking hpo or Mer and ex. Future investigation of the ex promoter will help to clarify understanding of the complex fashion by which expression of the ex gene is controlled, and should aid understanding of eye size specification in Drosophila (Milton, 2010).

This study emphasises the complexity of the means by which the activity of core SWH pathway proteins is regulated by non-core proteins such as Ft, Ex, Mer and Dco. The signalling mechanisms employed by non-core proteins appear to differ at discrete stages of development in order to achieve appropriate organ size during the larval growth period of eye development, and to subsequently sculpt the eye by regulating apoptosis during pupal development (Milton, 2010).

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date revised: 5 August 2011

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