Project description:Mutations that lead to hyperactivation of Ras signaling are hallmarks of carcinomas. During development, signaling via Ras mediates cell fate decisions and cellular differentiation without causing hyper-proliferation. What determines whether Ras activation leads to differentiation or proliferation remains unknown. Here we show that the Hippo pathway reprograms the cellular response to Ras signaling in Drosophila. While hyperactivation of Ras signaling alone promotes cellular differentiation, additional loss of Hippo signaling drives aggressive hyper-proliferation. Transcriptome analysis combined with ChIP-nexus confirmed that the magnitude and specificity of Ras target gene expression strongly depends on the activity status of the Hippo pathway. This is because Hippo signaling directly regulates the expression of two key downstream transcription factors of the Ras pathway: the ETS-domain transcription factor Pointed and the transcriptional repressor Capicua. Our results highlight how independent signaling pathways can impinge on each other at the level of transcription factors, thereby providing a safety mechanism to keep proliferation in check under normal developmental conditions.
Project description:dFOXO targets in adult Drosophila melanogaster females, and the effect of insulin signalling and stress on binding. The experimets determined the binding locations of dFOXO in the whole adult female fly using ChIP-chip. The protocol was validated using mock conditions: pre-immune serum or IP on chromatin from foxo null flies. The response of this binding to stress induced by treatment of flies with paraquat or by their exposure to starvation, as well as the response to an insulin-signalling-reducing genetic manipulation (over-expression of dominant negative form of the insulin receptor), was determined.
Project description:The GckIII pathway is a Hippo-like kinase module defined by sequential activation of Ste20 kinases Thousand and One (Tao) and Germinal Center Kinase III (GckIII), followed by nuclear dbf2-related (NDR) kinase Tricornered (Trc). We previously uncovered a role for the GckIII pathway in regulating tube morphology in the Drosophila melanogaster tracheal (respiratory) system. The trachea form a network of branched epithelial tubes essential for oxygen transport, and are structurally analogous to branched tubular organs in vertebrates, such as the vascular system. In the absence of GckIII pathway function, aberrant dilations form in tracheal tubes characterised by mislocalized junctional and apical proteins, suggesting that the GckIII pathway is important in maintaining tube integrity in development. Here, we observed a genetic interaction between trc and Cerebral cavernous malformations 3 (Ccm3), the Drosophila ortholog of a human vascular disease gene, supporting our hypothesis that the GckIII pathway functions downstream of Ccm3 in trachea, and potentially in the vertebrate cerebral vasculature. However, how GckIII pathway signalling is regulated and the mechanisms that underpin its function in tracheal development are unknown. We undertook biochemical and genetic approaches to identify proteins that interact with Trc, the most downstream GckIII pathway kinase. We found that known GckIII and NDR scaffold proteins are likely to control GckIII pathway signalling in tracheal development, consistent with their conserved roles in Hippo-like modules. Furthermore, we show genetic interactions between trc and multiple enzymes in glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, suggesting a potential function of the GckIII pathway in integrating cellular energy requirements with maintenance of tube integrity.