During Drosophila development, the Wingless (Wg) morphogen modulates the activity of the transcriptional activator Armadillo(Arm/β-catenin) by inactivating a destruction complex that targets it for proteolysis. In the prevailing model of Wg signal transduction, Axin levels limit the activity of this destruction complex (consisting of Axin, Apc and the GSK3 homolog Zeste-white 3), whereas Apc is present in vast excess. Now,on p. 963, Benchabane and co-workers propose that Apc activity is also present in limiting amounts in the developing Drosophila retina, to ensure accurate concentration-dependent responses to Wg. When the researchers tested the prevailing model in developing retinas, they unexpectedly discovered that the loss of Apc2 (which reduces total Apc activity by less than twofold)caused ectopic Wg signalling and aberrant cell fate specification in regions of low Wg concentration. The researchers conclude that within the retinal Wg gradient, both Axin and Apc are present near the threshold levels required for Arm destruction, and together ensure accurately graded responses to Wg.
Axin' APC levels in Wg signalling
Axin' APC levels in Wg signalling. Development 1 March 2008; 135 (5): e504. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.