DEV · Mechanisms controlling the developmental response to Wnt signalling in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

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Project objective

The signalling molecule encoded by the wingless (wg) gene (the fruit-fly homologue of the mammalian proto-oncogene Wnt-1) elicits distinct responses in different tissues during the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In particular, wg is required for the proliferation of the hinge cells (which will give rise to the structures joining the wing to the trunk of the fly), and its over-expression leads to the over-proliferation of the hinge cells.In this project we aim at:(1) to define the specific cell cycle properties of hinge cells that might be related to this proliferative response, and to study their control by wg;(2) to identify genes that are controlled by wg and which mediate the induction of cell proliferation; and(3) to determine fact ors that condition hinge cells to proliferate upon wg stimulation and how these factors relate to cell cycle control.These results might serve as a basis, first, to understand how Wnt signals regulate proliferation during normal development, second, to throw light on the general phenomenon of developmental specificity of intercellular signalling pathways, and third to understand why tumour induction by mutations in the Wnt signalling pathway is tissue-specific.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSIDAD PABLO DE OLAVIDE - CENTRO ANDALUZ DE BIOLOGÍA DEL DESAROLLO · SEVILLACoordinatorCity levelSpain

Links

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