The FGF8-related signals Pyramus and Thisbe promote pathfinding, substrate adhesion, and survival of migrating longitudinal gut muscle founder cells.

ABSTRACT: Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) frequently fulfill prominent roles in the regulation of cell migration in various contexts. In Drosophila, the FGF8-like ligands Pyramus (Pyr) and Thisbe (Ths), which signal through their receptor Heartless (Htl), are known to regulate early mesodermal cell migration after gastrulation as well as glial cell migration during eye development. Herein, we show that Pyr and Ths also exert key roles during the long-distance migration of a specific sub-population of mesodermal cells that migrate from the caudal visceral mesoderm within stereotypic bilateral paths along the trunk visceral mesoderm toward the anterior. These cells constitute the founder myoblasts of the longitudinal midgut muscles. In a forward genetic screen for regulators of this morphogenetic pro

SUBMITTER: Reim I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3589571 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature