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Developmental biology

Sending all the right signals

Nature volume 396, pages 18–19 (1998)Cite this article

During growth and development, cells signal to — and regulate the fates of — each other. Cells can initiate many developmental fates in response to a single signal and, throughout the years, two mechanisms have been identified1. In the first, receiving cells adopt different fates depending on the amount of signal or ‘morphogen’ that they receive. This implies that there is a concentration gradient of the signal, and that receiving cells can translate the quantitative amount of the signal they receive into different qualitative outcomes. The second mechanism is a ‘relay mechanism’, whereby receiving cells activate secondary signals that are subsequently responsible for the diversification of cell fates.

Reporting in Cell, Wasserman and Freeman2 provide a striking example of how a simple instructive signal initiates the development of an elaborate pattern during oogenesis. The oocyte (derived from the germ line) is surrounded by an epithelial layer of somatically derived follicle cells, which produce the chorion (or eggshell) in the final stages of oogenesis. Among the most prominent features of the chorion are two dorsal filaments, or appendages, used for respiration. In the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, the fate of dorsal cells is specified by activation of the epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) in the follicle cells (see ref. 3 for review). Activation depends on an asymmetric signal encoded by Gurken (Grk), a transforming growth factor (TGF)-α-like molecule that originates from the oocyte. The Grk pathway initiates development of the respiratory appendages in the dorsal/anterior region of the chorion. But what is the nature of its contribution?

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Figure 1: Cell-fate specification during dorsal patterning of the Drosophila egg.
Figure 2: Diversity of dorsal appendages in Drosophila species.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, 02115, Massachusetts, Boston, USA

    Norbert Perrimon

  2. Department of Biology, Indiana University, 47405, Indiana, Bloomington, USA

    Joseph B. Duffy

Authors
  1. Norbert Perrimon
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  2. Joseph B. Duffy
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Perrimon, N., Duffy, J. Sending all the right signals. Nature 396, 18–19 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/23815

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