Drosophila wing imaginal discs respond to mechanical injury via slow InsP3R-mediated intercellular calcium waves.

ABSTRACT: Calcium signalling is a highly versatile cellular communication system that modulates basic functions such as cell contractility, essential steps of animal development such as fertilization and higher-order processes such as memory. We probed the function of calcium signalling in Drosophila wing imaginal discs through a combination of ex vivo and in vivo imaging and genetic analysis. Here we discover that wing discs display slow, long-range intercellular calcium waves (ICWs) when mechanically stressed in vivo or cultured ex vivo. These slow imaginal disc intercellular calcium waves (SIDICs) are mediated by the inositol-3-phosphate receptor, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium pump SERCA and the key gap junction component Inx2. The knockdown of genes required for SIDIC formation and prop

SUBMITTER: Restrepo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4980486 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature