Presenilin is required for the transducing activity of transmembrane
but not intracellular forms of Notch during wing development. Each
column contains views of a single mosaic imaginal wing disk. Clones
that lack PS activity are marked by GFP expression
(green). These clones also express either NECN or
Nintra, which are constitutively active in a wild-type
genetic background. smc-Z expression (red) labels SMCs
that will form mechanosensory bristles in the presumptive notum (n) as
well as sense organs in other portions of the disk. Cut expression
(blue) marks subsets of SMCs. Cut is also expressed in a thin stripe of
“edge cell” straddling the dorsoventral compartment boundary
(vd) in the wing blade, and in adepithelial cells
associated with the notum. The disk shown in A contains
only a single small clone and hence serves as a reference for the
normal disk. Disks are shown anterior to the left and ventral down.
(A) Series of views of a disk carrying one small clone
of PS−
UAS-NECN-expressing
cells (yellow arrow). Cells within the clone form a cluster of SMCs
(marked by smc-Z and Cut expression) instead of the
single SMC that would normally form at this position, indicating the
absence of Notch transducing activity. Single SMCs (marked by
smc-Z expression) in neighboring wild-type tissue are
indicated by arrowheads. (B) This disk carries multiple
PS− clones that express NECN
and display phenotypes associated with the absence of Notch transducing
activity. Two clones in the notum (yellow arrows) show the formation of
SMC clusters in place of single SMCs; two clones in the wing blade span
the dorsoventral compartment boundary (white arrow and arrowhead) and
show a cell autonomous loss of Cut expression. (C) This
disk serves as a control. Clones of PS−
UAS-NECN-expressing
cells were generated in the presence of a rescuing
Tub-PS+ transgene.
Restoration of Presenilin activity from the rescuing transgene reveals
the constitutive activity of NECN within clones. In the
notum, SMCs do not form, indicating that neurogenesis is suppressed.
There is no overlap between the clone (green) and smc-Z
expression (red); the few apparent cases are due to superimposition of
the nuclear GFP and cytoplasmic smc-Z signals in
different focal planes. In the wing blade, clones autonomously express
Cut, indicating constitutive activity of Notch (white arrow marks a
representative clone). These clones are also associated with overgrowth
of neighboring, wild-type tissue, an indication that the mutant cells
are ectopically expressing Wg as well as Cut. (D) This
disk carries several clones of PS−
UAS-Nintra-expressing
cells. Clones in the wing blade autonomously express Cut. The wing
blade clone marked by the white arrow has also induced neighboring
wild-type cells to express the smc-Z reporter, an
indication that these cells are developing as wing margin bristles in
response to Wg ectopically expressed by the mutant cells within the
clone (see also Fig. 3C).