Drosophila S2 cells secrete wingless on exosome-like vesicles but the wingless gradient forms independently of exosomes.

ABSTRACT: Wingless acts as a morphogen in Drosophila wing discs, where it specifies cell fates and controls growth several cell diameters away from its site of expression. Thus, despite being acylated and membrane associated, Wingless spreads in the extracellular space. Recent studies have focussed on identifying the route that Wingless follows in the secretory pathway and determining how it is packaged for release. We have found that, in medium conditioned by Wingless-expressing Drosophila S2 cells, Wingless is present on exosome-like vesicles and that this fraction activates signal transduction. Proteomic analysis shows that Wingless-containing exosome-like structures contain many Drosophila proteins that are homologous to mammalian exosome proteins. In addition, Evi, a multipass transmembrane pro

SUBMITTER: Beckett K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4337976 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature