Regulation of cytoskeletal organization and junctional remodeling by the atypical cadherin Fat

Metformin rescues migratory deficits of cells derived from patients with periventricular heterotopia

Periventricular neuronal heterotopia (PH) is one of the most common forms of cortical malformation in the human cortex. We show that human neuronal progenitor cells (hNPCs) derived from PH patients with a DCHS1 or FAT4 mutation as well as isogenic lines had altered migratory dynamics when grafted in the mouse brain. The affected migration was linked to altered autophagy as observed in vivo with an electron microscopic analysis of grafted hNPCs, a Western blot analysis of cortical organoids, and time-lapse imaging of hNPCs in the presence of bafilomycin A1. We further show that deficits in autophagy resulted in the accumulation of paxillin, a focal adhesion protein involved in cell migration. Strikingly, a single-cell RNA-seq analysis of hNPCs revealed similar expression levels of autophagy-related genes. Bolstering AMPK-dependent autophagy by metformin, an FDA-approved drug, promoted migration of PH patients-derived hNPCs. Our data indicate that transcription-independent homeostatic modifications in autophagy contributed to the defective migratory behavior of hNPCs in vivo and suggest that modulating autophagy in hNPCs might rescue neuronal migration deficits in some forms of PH.

Differential Expression of E2F Transcription Factors and Their Functional and Prognostic Roles in Human Prostate Cancer

Given the tumor heterogeneity, most of the current prognostic indicators cannot accurately evaluate the prognosis of patients with prostate cancer, and thus, the best opportunity to intervene in the progression of this disease is missed. E2F transcription factors (E2Fs) have been reported to be involved in the growth of various cancers. Accumulating studies indicate that prostate cancer (PCa) carcinogenesis is attributed to aberrant E2F expression or E2F alteration. However, the expression patterns and prognostic value of the eight E2Fs in prostate cancer have yet to be explored. In this study, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Kaplan–Meier Plotter, Metascape, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), CIBERSORT, and cBioPortal and bioinformatic analysis were used to investigate E2Fs in patients with PCa. Our results showed that the expression of E2F1–3, E2F5, and E2F6 was higher in prostate cancer tissues than in benign tissues. Furthermore, elevated E2F1–3 and E2F5 expression levels were associated with a higher Gleason score (GS), advanced tumor stage, and metastasis. Survival analysis suggested that high transcription levels of E2F1–3, E2F5, E2F6, and E2F8 were associated with a higher risk of biochemical recurrence. In addition, we developed a prognostic model combining E2F1, E2F6, Gleason score, and the clinical stage that may accurately predict a biochemical recurrence-free survival. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the E2F family members and their neighboring genes were mainly enriched in cell cycle-related pathways. Somatic mutations in different subgroups were also investigated, and immune components were predicted. Further experiments are warranted to clarify the biological associations between Pca-related E2F family genes, which may influence prognosis via the cell cycle pathway.

Cell cycle expression of polarity genes features Rb targeting of Vang

Specification of cellular polarity is vital to normal tissue development and function. Pioneering studies in Drosophila and C. elegans have elucidated the composition and dynamics of protein complexes critical for establishment of cell polarity, which is manifest in processes such as cell migration and asymmetric cell division. Conserved throughout metazoans, planar cell polarity (PCP) genes are implicated in disease, including neural tube closure defects associated with mutations in VANGL1/2. PCP protein regulation is well studied; however, relatively little is known about transcriptional regulation of these genes. Our earlier study revealed an unexpected role for the fly Rbf1 retinoblastoma corepressor protein, a regulator of cell cycle genes, in transcriptional regulation of polarity genes. Here we analyze the physiological relevance of the role of E2F/Rbf proteins in the transcription of the key core polarity gene Vang. Targeted mutations to the E2F site within the Vang promoter disrupts binding of E2F/Rbf proteins in vivo, leading to polarity defects in wing hairs. E2F regulation of Vang is supported by the requirement for this motif in a reporter gene. Interestingly, the promoter is repressed by overexpression of E2F1, a transcription factor generally identified as an activator. Consistent with the regulation of this polarity gene by E2F and Rbf factors, expression of Vang and other polarity genes is found to peak in G2/M phase in cells of the embryo and wing imaginal disc, suggesting that cell cycle signals may play a role in regulation of these genes. These findings suggest that the E2F/Rbf complex mechanistically links cell proliferation and polarity.

How do the Fat-Dachsous and core planar polarity pathways act together and independently to coordinate polarized cell behaviours?

Planar polarity describes the coordinated polarization of cells within the plane of a tissue. This is controlled by two main pathways in Drosophila: the Frizzled-dependent core planar polarity pathway and the Fat–Dachsous pathway. Components of both of these pathways become asymmetrically localized within cells in response to long-range upstream cues, and form intercellular complexes that link polarity between neighbouring cells. This review examines if and when the two pathways are coupled, focusing on the Drosophila wing, eye and abdomen. There is strong evidence that the pathways are molecularly coupled in tissues that express a specific isoform of the core protein Prickle, namely Spiny-legs. However, in other contexts, the linkages between the pathways are indirect. We discuss how the two pathways act together and independently to mediate a diverse range of effects on polarization of cell structures and behaviours.

Deleted in azoospermia-associated protein 2 regulates innate immunity by stimulating Hippo signaling in crab

The Hippo-signaling pathway plays a critical role in both normal animal physiology and pathogenesis. Because pharmacological interventions targeting this pathway have diverse clinical implications, a better understanding of its regulation in various conditions and organisms is crucial. Here, we identified deleted in azoospermia-associated protein 2 (DAZAP2) in the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis), designated EsDAZAP2, as a Hippo-regulatory protein highly similar to proteins in various species of insects, fish, and mammals. We found that a bacterial infection significantly induces EsDAZAP2 expression, and an EsDAZAP2 knockdown both suppresses antimicrobial peptide (AMP) expression in vitro and results in increased viable bacterial counts and mortality in vivo, suggesting that EsDAZAP2 plays a critical role in innate immunity. Using yeast two-hybrid screening and co-immunoprecipitation assays, we found that EsDAZAP2 regulates the Toll pathway rather than the immune deficiency and Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathways. Our findings also demonstrate that EsDAZAP2 binds to the Hippo protein, Salvador (Sav). Moreover, by examining the regulation of Dorsal, a transcription factor that regulates AMP expression in E. sinensis, we provide experimental evidence indicating that EsDAZAP2 promotes Hippo pathway activation in innate immunity, with EsDAZAP2 and Hippo binding to different Sav domains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a DAZAP2-regulated Hippo-signaling pathway operating in animal innate immunity.

Multiple feedback mechanisms fine-tune Rho signaling to regulate morphogenetic outcomes

Rho signaling is a conserved mechanism for generating forces through activation of contractile actomyosin. How this pathway can produce different cell morphologies is poorly understood. In the Drosophila embryonic epithelium, we investigate how Rho signaling controls force asymmetry to drive morphogenesis. We study a distinct morphogenetic process termed 'alignment'. This process results in striking columns of rectilinear cells connected by aligned cell-cell contacts. We found that this is driven by contractile actomyosin cables that elevate tension along aligning interfaces. Our data show that polarization of Rho effectors, Rok and Dia, directs formation of these cables. Constitutive activation of these effectors causes aligning cells to instead invaginate. This suggests that moderating Rho signaling is essential to producing the aligned geometry. Therefore, we tested for feedback that could fine-tune Rho signaling. We discovered that F-actin exerts negative feedback on multiple nodes in the pathway. Further, we present evidence that suggests that Rok in part mediates feedback from F-actin to Rho in a manner independent of Myo-II. Collectively, our work suggests that multiple feedback mechanisms regulate Rho signaling, which may account for diverse morphological outcomes.

The Power of Drosophila Genetics: The Discovery of the Hippo Pathway

The Hippo Pathway comprises a vast network of components that integrate diverse signals including mechanical cues and cell surface or cell-surface-associated molecules to define cellular outputs of growth, proliferation, cell fate, and cell survival on both the cellular and tissue level. Because of the importance of the regulators, core components, and targets of this pathway in human health and disease, individual components were often identified by efforts in mammalian models or for a role in a specific process such as stress response or cell death. However, multiple components were originally discovered in the Drosophila system, and the breakthrough of conceiving that these components worked together in a signaling pathway came from a series of Drosophila genetic screens and fundamental genetic and phenotypic characterization efforts. In this chapter, we will review the original discoveries leading to the conceptual framework of these components as a tumor suppressor network. We will review chronologically the early efforts that established our initial understanding of the core machinery that then launched the growing and vibrant field to be discussed throughout later chapters of this book.

Importance of miRNA stability and alternative primary miRNA isoforms in gene regulation during Drosophila development

Mature microRNAs (miRNAs) are processed from primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs), and their expression is controlled at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. However, how regulation at multiple levels achieves precise control remains elusive. Using published and new datasets, we profile a time course of mature and pri-miRNAs in Drosophila embryos and reveal the dynamics of miRNA production and degradation as well as dynamic changes in pri-miRNA isoform selection. We found that 5' nucleotides influence stability of mature miRNAs. Furthermore, distinct half-lives of miRNAs from the mir-309 cluster shape their temporal expression patterns, and the importance of rapid degradation of the miRNAs in gene regulation is detected as distinct evolutionary signatures at the target sites in the transcriptome. Finally, we show that rapid degradation of miR-3/-309 may be important for regulation of the planar cell polarity pathway component Vang. Altogether, the results suggest that complex mechanisms regulate miRNA expression to support normal development.

Tissue-specific activities of the Fat1 cadherin cooperate to control neuromuscular morphogenesis

Muscle morphogenesis is tightly coupled with that of motor neurons (MNs). Both MNs and muscle progenitors simultaneously explore the surrounding tissues while exchanging reciprocal signals to tune their behaviors. We previously identified the Fat1 cadherin as a regulator of muscle morphogenesis and showed that it is required in the myogenic lineage to control the polarity of progenitor migration. To expand our knowledge on how Fat1 exerts its tissue-morphogenesis regulator activity, we dissected its functions by tissue-specific genetic ablation. An emblematic example of muscle under such morphogenetic control is the cutaneous maximus (CM) muscle, a flat subcutaneous muscle in which progenitor migration is physically separated from the process of myogenic differentiation but tightly associated with elongating axons of its partner MNs. Here, we show that constitutive Fat1 disruption interferes with expansion and differentiation of the CM muscle, with its motor innervation and with specification of its associated MN pool. Fat1 is expressed in muscle progenitors, in associated mesenchymal cells, and in MN subsets, including the CM-innervating pool. We identify mesenchyme-derived connective tissue (CT) as a cell type in which Fat1 activity is required for the non-cell-autonomous control of CM muscle progenitor spreading, myogenic differentiation, motor innervation, and for motor pool specification. In parallel, Fat1 is required in MNs to promote their axonal growth and specification, indirectly influencing muscle progenitor progression. These results illustrate how Fat1 coordinates the coupling of muscular and neuronal morphogenesis by playing distinct but complementary actions in several cell types.

Big roles for Fat cadherins

To create an intricately patterned and reproducibly sized and shaped organ, many cellular processes must be tightly regulated. Cell elongation, migration, metabolism, proliferation rates, cell-cell adhesion, planar polarization and junctional contractions all must be coordinated in time and space. Remarkably, a pair of extremely large cell adhesion molecules called Fat (Ft) and Dachsous (Ds), acting largely as a ligand-receptor system, regulate, and likely coordinate, these many diverse processes. Here we describe recent exciting progress on how the Ds-Ft pathway controls these diverse processes, and highlight a few of the many questions remaining as to how these enormous cell adhesion molecules regulate development.

An embryonic system to assess direct and indirect Wnt transcriptional targets

During animal development, complex signals determine and organize a vast number of tissues using a very small number of signal transduction pathways. These developmental signaling pathways determine cell fates through a coordinated transcriptional response that remains poorly understood. The Wnt pathway is involved in a variety of these cellular functions, and its signals are transmitted in part through a β-catenin/TCF transcriptional complex. Here we report an in vivo Drosophila assay that can be used to distinguish between activation, de-repression and repression of transcriptional responses, separating upstream and downstream pathway activation and canonical/non-canonical Wnt signals in embryos. We find specific sets of genes downstream of both β-catenin and TCF with an additional group of genes regulated by Wnt, while the non-canonical Wnt4 regulates a separate cohort of genes. We correlate transcriptional changes with phenotypic outcomes of cell differentiation and embryo size, showing our model can be used to characterize developmental signaling compartmentalization in vivo.

Meru couples planar cell polarity with apical-basal polarity during asymmetric cell division

Polarity is a shared feature of most cells. In epithelia, apical-basal polarity often coexists, and sometimes intersects with planar cell polarity (PCP), which orients cells in the epithelial plane. From a limited set of core building blocks (e.g. the Par complexes for apical-basal polarity and the Frizzled/Dishevelled complex for PCP), a diverse array of polarized cells and tissues are generated. This suggests the existence of little-studied tissue-specific factors that rewire the core polarity modules to the appropriate conformation. In Drosophila sensory organ precursors (SOPs), the core PCP components initiate the planar polarization of apical-basal determinants, ensuring asymmetric division into daughter cells of different fates. We show that Meru, a RASSF9/RASSF10 homologue, is expressed specifically in SOPs, recruited to the posterior cortex by Frizzled/Dishevelled, and in turn polarizes the apical-basal polarity factor Bazooka (Par3). Thus, Meru belongs to a class of proteins that act cell/tissue-specifically to remodel the core polarity machinery.

Fat-like cadherins in cell migration-leading from both the front and the back

When cells migrate through the body, their motility is continually influenced by interactions with other cells. The Fat-like cadherins are cell-cell signaling proteins that promote migration in multiple cell types. Recent studies suggest, however, that Fat-like cadherins influence motility differently in mammals versus Drosophila, with the cadherin acting at the leading edge of mammalian cells and the trailing edge of Drosophila cells. As opposed to this being a difference between organisms, it is more likely that the Fat-like cadherins are highly versatile proteins that can interact with the migration machinery in multiple ways. Here, I review what is known about how Fat-like cadherins promote migration, and then explore where conserved features may be found between the mammalian and Drosophila models.

Scaling of cytoskeletal organization with cell size in Drosophila

Actin-rich denticle precursors are regularly distributed in the Drosophila embryo. Cytoskeletal scaling occurs through changes in denticle number and spacing. Denticle spacing scales with cell length over a 10-fold range. Accurate denticle positioning requires the microtubule cytoskeleton.

Spatially organized macromolecular complexes are essential for cell and tissue function, but the mechanisms that organize micron-scale structures within cells are not well understood. Microtubule-based structures such as mitotic spindles scale with cell size, but less is known about the scaling of actin structures within cells. Actin-rich denticle precursors cover the ventral surface of the Drosophila embryo and larva and provide templates for cuticular structures involved in larval locomotion. Using quantitative imaging and statistical modeling, we demonstrate that denticle number and spacing scale with cell length over a wide range of cell sizes in embryos and larvae. Denticle number and spacing are reduced under space-limited conditions, and both features robustly scale over a 10-fold increase in cell length during larval growth. We show that the relationship between cell length and denticle spacing can be recapitulated by specific mathematical equations in embryos and larvae and that accurate denticle spacing requires an intact microtubule network and the microtubule minus end–binding protein, Patronin. These results identify a novel mechanism of micro­tubule-dependent actin scaling that maintains precise patterns of actin organization during tissue growth.

The Hippo Pathway: A Master Regulatory Network Important in Development and Dysregulated in Disease

The Hippo Pathway is a master regulatory network that regulates proliferation, cell growth, stemness, differentiation, and cell death. Coordination of these processes by the Hippo Pathway throughout development and in mature organisms in response to diverse external and internal cues plays a role in morphogenesis, in controlling organ size, and in maintaining organ homeostasis. Given the importance of these processes, the Hippo Pathway also plays an important role in organismal health and has been implicated in a variety of diseases including eye disease, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and cancer. This review will focus on Drosophila reports that identified the core components of the Hippo Pathway revealing specific downstream biological outputs of this complicated network. A brief description of mammalian reports will complement review of the Drosophila studies. This review will also survey upstream regulation of the core components with a focus on feedback mechanisms.

Microtubule organization is determined by the shape of epithelial cells

Interphase microtubule organization is critical for cell function and tissue architecture. In general, physical mechanisms are sufficient to drive microtubule organization in single cells, whereas cells within tissues are thought to utilize signalling mechanisms. By improving the imaging and quantitation of microtubule alignment within developing Drosophila embryos, here we demonstrate that microtubule alignment underneath the apical surface of epithelial cells follows cell shape. During development, epidermal cell elongation and microtubule alignment occur simultaneously, but by perturbing cell shape, we discover that microtubule organization responds to cell shape, rather than the converse. A simple set of microtubule behaviour rules is sufficient for a computer model to mimic the observed responses to changes in cell surface geometry. Moreover, we show that microtubules colliding with cell boundaries zip-up or depolymerize in an angle-dependent manner, as predicted by the model. Finally, we show microtubule alignment responds to cell shape in diverse epithelia.

The Hippo Pathway Targets Rae1 to Regulate Mitosis and Organ Size and to Feed Back to Regulate Upstream Components Merlin, Hippo, and Warts

Hippo signaling acts as a master regulatory pathway controlling growth, proliferation, and apoptosis and also ensures that variations in proliferation do not alter organ size. How the pathway coordinates restricting proliferation with organ size control remains a major unanswered question. Here we identify Rae1 as a highly-conserved target of the Hippo Pathway integrating proliferation and organ size. Genetic and biochemical studies in Drosophila cells and tissues and in mammalian cells indicate that Hippo signaling promotes Rae1 degradation downstream of Warts/Lats. In proliferating cells, Rae1 loss restricts cyclin B levels and organ size while Rae1 over-expression increases cyclin B levels and organ size, similar to Hippo Pathway over-activation or loss-of-function, respectively. Importantly, Rae1 regulation by the Hippo Pathway is crucial for its regulation of cyclin B and organ size; reducing Rae1 blocks cyclin B accumulation and suppresses overgrowth caused by Hippo Pathway loss. Surprisingly, in addition to suppressing overgrowth, reducing Rae1 also compromises survival of epithelial tissue overgrowing due to loss of Hippo signaling leading to a tissue “synthetic lethality” phenotype. Excitingly, Rae1 plays a highly conserved role to reduce the levels and activity of the Yki/YAP oncogene. Rae1 increases activation of the core kinases Hippo and Warts and plays a post-transcriptional role to increase the protein levels of the Merlin, Hippo, and Warts components of the pathway; therefore, in addition to Rae1 coordinating organ size regulation with proliferative control, we propose that Rae1 also acts in a feedback circuit to regulate pathway homeostasis.

Exquisite control of organ size is critical during animal development and its loss results in pathological conditions. The Hippo Tumor Suppressor Pathway coordinates regulation of proliferation, growth, apoptosis, and autophagy to determine and maintain precise control of organ size. However, the genes responsible for Hippo-mediated regulation of mitosis or coordination of proliferation within organ size control have evaded characterization. Here, we describe Rae1, an essential WD-repeat containing protein, as a new organ size regulator. By genetic analysis, we show that Rae1 acts downstream of the Hippo Pathway to regulate mitotic cyclins and organ size. In contexts where organ size control is lost by compromised Hippo signaling, we show that there is a requirement for Rae1 that is distinct from the requriement for Yki: reducing Yki levels causes suppression of overgrowth, while reducing Rae1 levels dramatically compromises the survival of Hippo-deficient tissue. Lastly, our studies of Rae1 uncovered a potential post-transcriptional feedback loop that reinforces Yorkie-mediated transcriptional feedback for the Hippo Pathway.

Toll Receptor-Mediated Hippo Signaling Controls Innate Immunity in Drosophila

The Hippo signaling pathway functions through Yorkie to control tissue growth and homeostasis. How this pathway regulates non-developmental processes remains largely unexplored. Here, we report an essential role for Hippo signaling in innate immunity whereby Yorkie directly regulates the transcription of the Drosophila IκB homolog, Cactus, in Toll receptor-mediated antimicrobial response. Loss of Hippo pathway tumor suppressors or activation of Yorkie in fat bodies, the Drosophila immune organ, leads to elevated cactus mRNA levels, decreased expression of antimicrobial peptides, and vulnerability to infection by Gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, Gram-positive bacteria acutely activate Hippo-Yorkie signaling in fat bodies via the Toll-Myd88-Pelle cascade through Pelle-mediated phosphorylation and degradation of the Cka subunit of the Hippo-inhibitory STRIPAK PP2A complex. Our studies elucidate a Toll-mediated Hippo signaling pathway in antimicrobial response, highlight the importance of regulating IκB/Cactus transcription in innate immunity, and identify Gram-positive bacteria as extracellular stimuli of Hippo signaling under physiological settings.

Planar cell polarity: the Dachsous/Fat system contributes differently to the embryonic and larval stages of Drosophila

The epidermal patterns of all three larval instars (L1-L3) ofDrosophilaare made by one unchanging set of cells. The seven rows of cuticular denticles of all larval stages are consistently planar polarised, some pointing forwards, others backwards. In L1 all the predenticles originate at the back of the cells but, in L2 and L3, they form at the front or the back of the cell depending on the polarity of the forthcoming denticles. We find that, to polarise all rows, the Dachsous/Fat system is differentially utilised; in L1 it is active in the placement of the actin-based predenticles but is not crucial for the final orientation of the cuticular denticles, in L2 and L3 it is needed for placement and polarity. We find Four-jointed to be strongly expressed in the tendon cells and show how this might explain the orientation of all seven rows. Unexpectedly, we find that L3 that lack Dachsous differ from larvae lacking Fat and we present evidence that this is due to differently mislocalised Dachs. We make some progress in understanding how Dachs contributes to phenotypes of wildtype and mutant larvae and adults.

Modulation of junction tension by tumor-suppressors and proto-oncogenes regulates cell-cell contacts

Tumor-suppressor and proto-oncogenes play critical roles in tissue proliferation. Furthermore, deregulation of their functions is deleterious to tissue architecture and can result in the sorting of somatic rounded clones minimizing their contact with surrounding wild-type (wt) cells. Defects in somatic clones shape correlate with defects in proliferation, cell affinity, cell-cell adhesion, oriented cell division and cortical elasticity. Combining genetics, live-imaging, laser ablation and computer simulations, we aim to analyze whether distinct or similar mechanisms can account for the common role of tumor-suppressor and proto-oncogenes in cell-cell contact regulation. In Drosophila epithelia, Fat (Ft) and Dachsous (Ds) tumor-suppressors regulate cell proliferation, tissue morphogenesis, planar cell polarity and junction tension. By analyzing the time evolution of ft mutant cells and clones, we show that ft clones reduce their cell-cell contact with surrounding wt tissue in the absence of concomitant cell divisions and over-proliferation. This contact reduction depends on opposite changes of junction tensions in the clone bulk and its boundary with neighboring wt tissue. More generally, either clone bulk or boundary junction tensions is modulated by the activation of Yorkie, Myc and Ras yielding similar contact reductions with wt cells. Together our data highlight mechanical roles for proto-oncogene and tumor-suppressor pathways in cell-cell interactions.

Crumbs is an essential regulator of cytoskeletal dynamics and cell-cell adhesion during dorsal closure in Drosophila

The evolutionarily conserved Crumbs protein is required for epithelial polarity and morphogenesis. Here we identify a novel role of Crumbs as a negative regulator of actomyosin dynamics during dorsal closure in the Drosophila embryo. Embryos carrying a mutation in the FERM (protein 4.1/ezrin/radixin/moesin) domain-binding motif of Crumbs die due to an overactive actomyosin network associated with disrupted adherens junctions. This phenotype is restricted to the amnioserosa and does not affect other embryonic epithelia. This function of Crumbs requires DMoesin, the Rho1-GTPase, class-I p21-activated kinases and the Arp2/3 complex. Data presented here point to a critical role of Crumbs in regulating actomyosin dynamics, cell junctions and morphogenesis.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07398.001

A layer of epithelial cells covers the body surface of animals. Epithelial cells have a property known as polarity; this means that they have two different poles, one of which is in contact with the environment. Midway through embryonic development, the Drosophila embryo is covered by two kinds of epithelial sheets; the epidermis on the front, the belly and the sides of the embryo, and the amnioserosa on the back. In the second half of embryonic development, the amnioserosa is brought into the embryo in a process called dorsal closure, while the epidermis expands around the back of the embryo to encompass it.

One of the major activities driving dorsal closure is the contraction of amnioserosa cells. This contraction depends on the highly dynamic activity of the protein network that helps give cells their shape, known as the actomyosin cytoskeleton. One major question in the field is how changes in the actomyosin cytoskeleton are controlled as tissues take shape (a process known as “morphogenesis”) and how the integrity of epithelial tissues is maintained during these processes.

A key regulator of epidermal and amnioserosa polarity is an evolutionarily conserved protein called Crumbs. The epithelial tissues of mutant embryos that do not produce Crumbs lose polarity and integrity, and the embryos fail to develop properly.

Flores-Benitez and Knust have now studied the role of Crumbs in the morphogenesis of the amnioserosa during dorsal closure. This revealed that fly embryos that produce a mutant Crumbs protein that cannot interact with a protein called Moesin (which links the cell membrane and the actomyosin cytoskeleton) are unable to complete dorsal closure. Detailed analyses showed that this failure of dorsal closure is due to the over-activity of the actomyosin cytoskeleton in the amnioserosa. This results in increased and uncoordinated contractions of the cells, and is accompanied by defects in cell-cell adhesion that ultimately cause the amnioserosa to lose integrity. Flores-Benitez and Knust’s genetic analyses further showed that several different signalling systems participate in this process.

Flores-Benitez and Knust’s results reveal an unexpected role of Crumbs in coordinating polarity, actomyosin activity and cell-cell adhesion. Further work is now needed to understand the molecular mechanisms and interactions that enable Crumbs to coordinate these processes; in particular, to unravel how Crumbs influences the periodic contractions that drive changes in cell shape. It will also be important to investigate whether Crumbs is involved in similar mechanisms that operate in other developmental events in which actomyosin oscillations have been linked to tissue morphogenesis.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07398.002

Regions within a single epidermal cell of Drosophila can be planar polarised independently

Planar cell polarity (PCP), the coordinated and consistent orientation of cells in the plane of epithelial sheets, is a fundamental and conserved property of animals and plants. Up to now, the smallest unit expressing PCP has been considered to be an entire single cell. We report that, in the larval epidermis of Drosophila, different subdomains of one cell can have opposite polarities. In larvae, PCP is driven by the Dachsous/Fat system; we show that the polarity of a subdomain within one cell is its response to levels of Dachsous/Fat in the membranes of contacting cells. During larval development, cells rearrange (Saavedra et al., 2014) and when two subdomains of a single cell have different types of neighbouring cells, then these subdomains can become polarised in opposite directions. We conclude that polarisation depends on a local comparison of the amounts of Dachsous and Fat within opposing regions of a cell's membrane.

Quantitative image analysis of cell behavior and molecular dynamics during tissue morphogenesis

The cell behaviors that drive tissue morphogenesis, such as division, migration, or death, are regulated at the molecular scale. Understanding how molecular events determine cell behavior requires simultaneous tracking and measurement of molecular and cellular dynamics. To this end, we have developed SIESTA, an integrated tool for Scientific ImagE SegmenTation and Analysis that enables quantification of cell behavior and molecular events from image data. Here we use SIESTA to show how to automatically delineate cells in images (segmentation) using the watershed algorithm, a region-growing method for boundary detection. For images in which automated segmentation is not possible due to low or inappropriate contrast, we use a minimal path search algorithm to semiautomatically delineate the cells. We use the segmentation results to quantify cellular morphology and molecular dynamics in different subcellular compartments, and demonstrate the whole process by analyzing cell behavior and the dynamics of the motor protein non-muscle myosin II during axis elongation in a Drosophila embryo. Finally, we show how image analysis can be used to quantify molecular asymmetries that orient cell behavior, and demonstrate this point by measuring planar cell polarity in Drosophila embryos. We describe all methods in detail to allow their implementation and application using other software packages. The use of (semi) automated quantitative imaging enables the analysis of a large number of samples, thus providing the statistical power necessary to detect subtle molecular differences that may result in differences in cell behavior.

Microtubules provide directional information for core PCP function

Planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling controls the polarization of cells within the plane of an epithelium. Two molecular modules composed of Fat(Ft)/Dachsous(Ds)/Four-jointed(Fj) and a ‘PCP-core’ including Frizzled(Fz) and Dishevelled(Dsh) contribute to polarization of individual cells. How polarity is globally coordinated with tissue axes is unresolved. Consistent with previous results, we find that the Ft/Ds/Fj-module has an effect on a MT-cytoskeleton. Here, we provide evidence for the model that the Ft/Ds/Fj-module provides directional information to the core-module through this MT organizing function. We show Ft/Ds/Fj-dependent initial polarization of the apical MT-cytoskeleton prior to global alignment of the core-module, reveal that the anchoring of apical non-centrosomal MTs at apical junctions is polarized, observe that directional trafficking of vesicles containing Dsh depends on Ft, and demonstrate the feasibility of this model by mathematical simulation. Together, these results support the hypothesis that Ft/Ds/Fj provides a signal to orient core PCP function via MT polarization.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02893.001

Almost all cells exhibit some sort of polarity: the epithelial cells that line the digestive tract, for example, have an apical domain, which faces out, and a basal domain, which faces the tissue underneath. Some epithelial cells also exhibit planar cell polarity: this involves key structures within the cell being oriented along an axis within the plane of an epithelium. Disruption of planar cell polarity is associated with various developmental defects.

It is known that the planar polarity of epithelial cells relies on two molecular complexes—a ‘core’ complex and a signaling complex called the Ft/Ds/Fj system—working together. While each of these complexes contributes to whole tissues having the correct polarity, the way they interact to achieve this is not fully understood.

Now, by studying epithelial cells in the wings of fruit flies, Matis et al. have provided evidence for a specific model for this interaction. The process starts with the Ft/Ds/Fj signaling complex, which orients structures called microtubules inside the cell. Microtubules are involved in providing structural support for cells, and also in the transport of organelles within cells.

Once the microtubules are oriented in the correct direction, they help to orient the core complex by moving some of the proteins that make up this complex in a specified direction. An important future challenge will be to understand how the proteins in the Ft/Ds/Fj system interact with microtubules to give them their orientation.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02893.002

Recapitulation of morphogenetic cell shape changes enables wound re-epithelialisation

Wound repair is a fundamental, conserved mechanism for maintaining tissue homeostasis and shares many parallels with embryonic morphogenesis. Small wounds in simple epithelia rapidly assemble a contractile actomyosin cable at their leading edge, as well as dynamic filopodia that finally knit the wound edges together. Most studies of wound re-epithelialisation have focused on the actin machineries that assemble in the leading edge of front row cells and that resemble the contractile mechanisms that drive morphogenetic episodes, including Drosophila dorsal closure, but, clearly, multiple cell rows back must also contribute for efficient repair of the wound. Here, we examine the role of cells back from the wound edge and show that they also stretch towards the wound and cells anterior-posterior to the wound edge rearrange their junctions with neighbours to drive cell intercalation events. This process in anterior-posterior cells is active and dependent on pulses of actomyosin that lead to ratcheted shrinkage of junctions; the actomyosin pulses are targeted to breaks in the cell polarity protein Par3 at cell vertices. Inhibiting actomyosin dynamics back from the leading edge prevents junction shrinkage and inhibits the wound edge from advancing. These events recapitulate cell rearrangements that occur during germband extension, in which intercalation events drive the elongation of tissues.

Methods for studying planar cell polarity

Planar cell polarity (PCP) is the polarity of epithelial cells in the plane orthogonal to the apical-basal axis, and is controlled by a partially defined signaling system. PCP related signaling also plays roles in cell migration, tissue re-organization and stem cell differentiation during embryonic development, and later, in regeneration and repair. Aberrant signaling has been linked to a broad range of pathophysiologies including cancer, developmental defects, and neurological disorders. The deepest mechanistic insights have come from studies of PCP in Drosophila. In this chapter we review tools and methods to study PCP signaling in Drosophila epithelia, where it was found to involve asymmetric protein localization that is coordinated between adjacent cells. Such signaling has been most extensively studied in wing, eye, and abdomen, but also in other tissues such as leg and notum. In the adult fly, PCP is manifested in the coordinated direction of hairs and bristles, as well as the organization of ommatidia in the eye. The polarity of these structures is preceded by asymmetric localization of PCP signaling proteins at the apical junctions of epithelial cells. Based on genetic and molecular criteria, the proteins that govern PCP can be divided into distinct modules, including the core module, the Fat/Dachsous/Four-jointed (Fat/Ds/Fj) module (often referred to as the 'global' module) as well as tissue specific effector modules. Different tissues and tissue regions differ in their sensitivity to disturbances in the various modules of the PCP signaling system, leading to controversies about the interactions among the modules, and emphasizing the value of studying PCP in multiple contexts. Here, we review methods including those generally applicable, as well as some that are selectively useful for analyses of PCP in eye (including eye discs), wing (including wing discs), pupal and adult abdomen, and the cuticle of larvae and embryos.

Three functions of cadherins in cell adhesion

Cadherins are transmembrane proteins that mediate cell-cell adhesion in animals. By regulating contact formation and stability, cadherins play a crucial role in tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. Here, we review the three major functions of cadherins in cell-cell contact formation and stability. Two of those functions lead to a decrease in interfacial tension at the forming cell-cell contact, thereby promoting contact expansion--first, by providing adhesion tension that lowers interfacial tension at the cell-cell contact, and second, by signaling to the actomyosin cytoskeleton in order to reduce cortex tension and thus interfacial tension at the contact. The third function of cadherins in cell-cell contact formation is to stabilize the contact by resisting mechanical forces that pull on the contact.

Mechanotransduction in C. elegans morphogenesis and tissue function

Mechanobiology is an emerging field that investigates how living cells sense and respond to their physical surroundings. Recent interest in the field has been sparked by the finding that stem cells differentiate along different lineages based on the stiffness of the cell surroundings (Engler et al., 2006), and that metastatic behavior of cancer cells is strongly influenced by the mechanical properties of the surrounding tissue (Kumar and Weaver, 2009). Many questions remain about how cells convert mechanical information, such as viscosity, stiffness of the substrate, or stretch state of the cells, into the biochemical signals that control tissue function. Caenorhabditis elegans researchers are making significant contributions to the understanding of mechanotransduction in vivo. This review summarizes recent insights into the role of mechanical forces in morphogenesis and tissue function. Examples of mechanical regulation across length scales, from the single-celled zygote, to the intercellular coordination that enables cohesive tissue function, to the mechanical influences between tissues, are considered. The power of the C. elegans system as a gene discovery and in vivo quantitative bioimaging platform is enabling an important discoveries in this exciting field.

Alcohol interacts with genetic alteration of the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway to modulate tissue growth in Drosophila

Alcohol-mediated cancers represent more than 3.5% of cancer-related deaths, yet how alcohol promotes cancer is a major open question. Using Drosophila, we identified novel interactions between dietary ethanol and loss of tumor suppressor components of the Hippo Pathway. The Hippo Pathway suppresses tumors in flies and mammals by inactivating transcriptional co-activator Yorkie, and the spectrum of cancers associated with impaired Hippo signaling overlaps strikingly with those associated with alcohol. Therefore, our findings may implicate loss of Hippo Pathway tumor suppression in alcohol-mediated cancers. Ethanol enhanced overgrowth from loss of the expanded, hippo, or warts tumor suppressors but, surprisingly, not from over-expressing the yorkie oncogene. We propose that in parallel to Yorkie-dependent overgrowth, impairing Hippo signaling in the presence of alcohol may promote overgrowth via additional alcohol-relevant targets. We also identified interactions between alcohol and Hippo Pathway over-activation. We propose that exceeding certain thresholds of alcohol exposure activates Hippo signaling to maintain proper growth control and prevent alcohol-mediated mis-patterning and tissue overgrowth.

Drosophila Dachsous and Fat polarize actin-based protrusions over a restricted domain of the embryonic denticle field

Atypical cadherins Dachsous (Ds) and Fat coordinate the establishment of planar polarity, essential for the patterning of complex tissues and organs. The precise mechanisms by which this system acts, particularly in cases where Ds and Fat act independently of the 'core' frizzled system, are still the subject of investigation. Examining the deployment of the Ds-Fat system in different tissues of the model organism Drosophila, has provided insights into the general mechanisms by which polarity is established and propagated to coordinate outcomes across a field of cells. The Drosophila embryonic epidermis provides a simple model epithelia where the establishment of polarity can be observed from start to finish, and in the absence of proliferation, over a fixed number of cells. Using the asymmetric placement of f-actin during denticle assembly as a read-out of polarity, we examine the requirement for Ds and Fat in establishing polarity across the denticle field. Comparing detailed phenotypic analysis with steady state protein enrichment revealed a spatially restricted requirement for the Ds-Fat system within the posterior denticle field. Ectopic Ds signaling provides evidence for a model whereby Ds acts to asymmetrically enrich Fat in a neighboring cell, in turn polarizing the cell to specify the position of the actin-based protrusions at the cell cortex.

Wounded cells drive rapid epidermal repair in the early Drosophila embryo

Epithelial tissues are protective barriers that display a remarkable ability to repair wounds. Wound repair is often associated with an accumulation of actin and nonmuscle myosin II around the wound, forming a purse string. The role of actomyosin networks in generating mechanical force during wound repair is not well understood. Here we investigate the mechanisms of force generation during wound repair in the epidermis of early and late Drosophila embryos. We find that wound closure is faster in early embryos, where, in addition to a purse string around the wound, actomyosin networks at the medial cortex of the wounded cells contribute to rapid wound repair. Laser ablation demonstrates that both medial and purse-string actomyosin networks generate contractile force. Quantitative analysis of protein localization dynamics during wound closure indicates that the rapid contraction of medial actomyosin structures during wound repair in early embryos involves disassembly of the actomyosin network. By contrast, actomyosin purse strings in late embryos contract more slowly in a mechanism that involves network condensation. We propose that the combined action of two force-generating structures--a medial actomyosin network and an actomyosin purse string--contributes to the increased efficiency of wound repair in the early embryo.

Dynamic microtubules produce an asymmetric E-cadherin-Bazooka complex to maintain segment boundaries

Distributing junctional components around the cell periphery is key for epithelial tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. We discovered that positioning of dynamic microtubules controls the asymmetric accumulation of E-cadherin. Microtubules are oriented preferentially along the dorso-ventral axis in Drosophila melanogaster embryonic epidermal cells, and thus more frequently contact E-cadherin at dorso-ventral cell-cell borders. This inhibits RhoGEF2, reducing membrane recruitment of Rho-kinase, and increasing a specific E-cadherin pool that is mobile when assayed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. This mobile E-cadherin is complexed with Bazooka/Par-3, which in turn is required for normal levels of mobile E-cadherin. Mobile E-cadherin-Bazooka prevents formation of multicellular rosette structures and cell motility across the segment border in Drosophila embryos. Altogether, the combined action of dynamic microtubules and Rho signaling determines the level and asymmetric distribution of a mobile E-cadherin-Bazooka complex, which regulates cell behavior during the generation of a patterned epithelium.

Microtubule polarity predicts direction of egg chamber rotation in Drosophila

Whole-tissue rotations have recently been recognized as a widespread morphogenetic process important for tissue elongation [1-4]. In Drosophila ovaries, elongation of the egg chamber involves a global rotation of the follicle epithelium along the anterior-posterior axis [5]. Individual egg chambers rotate either in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction; however, how the symmetry of egg chambers is broken to allow rotation remains unknown. Here we show that at the basal side of follicle cells, microtubules are preferentially aligned perpendicular to the anterior-posterior axis of the egg chamber. Microtubule depolymerization stalls egg chamber rotation and egg chamber elongation. The preferential alignment of microtubules and egg chamber rotation depend on the atypical cadherin Fat2 and the planar polarized Fat2 localization depends on intact microtubules. Moreover, by tracking microtubule plus-end growth in vivo using EB1::GFP, we find that microtubules are highly polarized in the plane of the follicle epithelium. Polarization of microtubules precedes the onset of egg chamber rotation and predicts the direction of rotation. Our data suggest a feedback amplification mechanism between Fat2 localization and microtubule polarity involved in breaking symmetry and directing egg chamber rotation.

The mechanisms of planar cell polarity, growth and the Hippo pathway: some known unknowns

Planar cell polarity (PCP) is a small but important area of research. In this review we discuss a limited number of topics within the PCP field, chosen because they are difficult, unsolved, controversial or just because we find them interesting. Because Drosophila is the best studied and technically most amenable system we have concentrated on it, but also consider some examples from work on vertebrates. Topics discussed include the number of genetic pathways involved in PCP, as well as the causal relationship between embryonic axes, gradients of morphogens and PCP itself. We consider the vexed question of the roles of the Wnt genes in PCP in both vertebrates and Drosophila. We discuss whether the proteins involved in PCP need to be localised asymmetrically in cells in order to function. We criticise the way the Hippo pathway is described in the literature and ask what its wildtype function is. We explore afresh how the Hippo pathway might be linked both to growth and to PCP through the gigantic cadherin molecule Fat. We offer some new ways of making sense of published results, particularly those relating to the Frizzled/Starry night and Dachsous/Fat systems of PCP.

Fat and Dachsous cadherins

Fat and Dachsous (Ds) are very large cell adhesion molecules. They bind each other and have important, highly conserved roles in planar cell polarity (PCP) and growth control. PCP is defined as the directionally coordinated development of cellular structures or behavior. Cellular and tissue growth needs to be modulated in terms of rate and final size, and the Hippo pathway regulates growth in a variety of developmental contexts. Fat and Ds are important upstream regulators of these pathways. There are two Fat proteins in Drosophila, Fat and Fat2, and four in vertebrates, Fat1-4. There is one Ds protein in Drosophila and two in vertebrates, Dachsous1-2. In this chapter, we discuss the roles of Fat and Ds family members, focusing on Drosophila and mouse development.