Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
3-14-2016
Journal
Elife
Volume
5
DOI
10.7554/eLife.11491
Abstract
A fundamental question of biology is what determines organ size. Despite demonstrations that factors within organs determine their sizes, intrinsic size control mechanisms remain elusive. Here we show that Drosophila wing size is regulated by JNK signaling during development. JNK is active in a stripe along the center of developing wings, and modulating JNK signaling within this stripe changes organ size. This JNK stripe influences proliferation in a non-canonical, Jun-independent manner by inhibiting the Hippo pathway. Localized JNK activity is established by Hedgehog signaling, where Ci elevates dTRAF1 expression. As the dTRAF1 homolog, TRAF4, is amplified in numerous cancers, these findings provide a new mechanism for how the Hedgehog pathway could contribute to tumorigenesis, and, more importantly, provides a new strategy for cancer therapies. Finally, modulation of JNK signaling centers in developing antennae and legs changes their sizes, suggesting a more generalizable role for JNK signaling in developmental organ size control.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
APA Citation
Willsey, H., Zheng, X., Carlos Pastor-Pareja, J., Willsey, A., Beachy, P., & Xu, T. (2016). Localized JNK signaling regulates organ size during development.. Elife, 5 (). http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.11491
Peer Reviewed
1
Open Access
1
Comments
Reproduced with permission of eLife Science Publications, Ltd. eLife