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Cell migration

The flight of the haemocyte

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 7, pages 468–469 (2006)Cite this article

Haemocyte distribution originates in the head mesoderm at stage 10 of embryogenesis, and follows a regular migration route along the ventral midline until the entire embryo is populated by stage 17. A rigorous study of migrating haemocytes by Wood et al., using live time-lapse imaging, showed that haemocytes begin to cluster along the ventral midline at stage 14, and move laterally from these ventral clusters at defined exit points between stages 14–16.

It has already been established that the PDGF/VEGF receptor ligands (PVF1–3) function redundantly as chemotactic signals in haemocyte dispersal. Now, Wood et al. have shown that the pattern of PVF2 and PVF3 expression mimics the pattern of haemocyte migration in the ventral midline. Furthermore, double inactivation of PVF2 and PVF3 by RNA interference resulted in the loss of haemocyte migration in this region, and the overexpression of PVF2 resulted in reduced lateral migration of haemocytes during embryonic stages 14–16. However, the in vivo expression of an inactive form of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K; a protein that mediates cell migration in other systems) did not affect haemocyte migration.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Wood, W. et al. Distinct mechanisms regulate hemocyte chemotaxis during development and wound healing in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Cell Biol. 173, 405–416 (2006)

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  1. Asher Mullard
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Mullard, A. The flight of the haemocyte. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 7, 468–469 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1965

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