Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 2003 Jul;164(3):1015–1025. doi: 10.1093/genetics/164.3.1015

A new genetic locus controlling growth and proliferation in Drosophila melanogaster.

Sophie Raisin 1, Sophie Pantalacci 1, Jean-Philippe Breittmayer 1, Pierre Léopold 1
PMCID: PMC1462610  PMID: 12871911

Abstract

Multicellular organisms grow through both proliferation and growth of their individual cells. We have conducted a P-element-based misexpression screen for genes whose upregulation alters wing disc growth during development. One particular group of four P elements, all inserted at cytological location 61C7-8, exhibited specific overgrowth upon misexpression in proliferating imaginal tissues. Clonal analysis revealed that upon misexpression, cell number was increased but cell size was not affected, indicating that cell growth and proliferation were induced in a coordinate manner. Loss of function at the locus produced small flies with reduced cell number, consistent with the presence of a gene encoding a positive growth regulator. We characterized a new transcription unit initiating in a region adjacent to the P insertions, which generated a complex series of polyadenylated transcripts. Although these RNAs were induced in response to misexpression, none was sufficient by itself to recapitulate overgrowth when overexpressed. This suggested either that a particular combination of these transcripts was necessary or that other sequences are involved.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (428.9 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brand A. H., Perrimon N. Targeted gene expression as a means of altering cell fates and generating dominant phenotypes. Development. 1993 Jun;118(2):401–415. doi: 10.1242/dev.118.2.401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brogiolo W., Stocker H., Ikeya T., Rintelen F., Fernandez R., Hafen E. An evolutionarily conserved function of the Drosophila insulin receptor and insulin-like peptides in growth control. Curr Biol. 2001 Feb 20;11(4):213–221. doi: 10.1016/s0960-9822(01)00068-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Datar S. A., Jacobs H. W., de la Cruz A. F., Lehner C. F., Edgar B. A. The Drosophila cyclin D-Cdk4 complex promotes cellular growth. EMBO J. 2000 Sep 1;19(17):4543–4554. doi: 10.1093/emboj/19.17.4543. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Edgar B. A., Orr-Weaver T. L. Endoreplication cell cycles: more for less. Cell. 2001 May 4;105(3):297–306. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(01)00334-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hipfner David R., Weigmann Katrin, Cohen Stephen M. The bantam gene regulates Drosophila growth. Genetics. 2002 Aug;161(4):1527–1537. doi: 10.1093/genetics/161.4.1527. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Johnston L. A., Prober D. A., Edgar B. A., Eisenman R. N., Gallant P. Drosophila myc regulates cellular growth during development. Cell. 1999 Sep 17;98(6):779–790. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81512-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Leevers S. J., Weinkove D., MacDougall L. K., Hafen E., Waterfield M. D. The Drosophila phosphoinositide 3-kinase Dp110 promotes cell growth. EMBO J. 1996 Dec 2;15(23):6584–6594. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Meyer C. A., Jacobs H. W., Datar S. A., Du W., Edgar B. A., Lehner C. F. Drosophila Cdk4 is required for normal growth and is dispensable for cell cycle progression. EMBO J. 2000 Sep 1;19(17):4533–4542. doi: 10.1093/emboj/19.17.4533. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Neufeld T. P., Edgar B. A. Connections between growth and the cell cycle. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 1998 Dec;10(6):784–790. doi: 10.1016/s0955-0674(98)80122-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Neufeld T. P., de la Cruz A. F., Johnston L. A., Edgar B. A. Coordination of growth and cell division in the Drosophila wing. Cell. 1998 Jun 26;93(7):1183–1193. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81462-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Prober D. A., Edgar B. A. Growth regulation by oncogenes--new insights from model organisms. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2001 Feb;11(1):19–26. doi: 10.1016/s0959-437x(00)00151-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Prober D. A., Edgar B. A. Ras1 promotes cellular growth in the Drosophila wing. Cell. 2000 Feb 18;100(4):435–446. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80679-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rubin G. M., Spradling A. C. Genetic transformation of Drosophila with transposable element vectors. Science. 1982 Oct 22;218(4570):348–353. doi: 10.1126/science.6289436. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rørth P. A modular misexpression screen in Drosophila detecting tissue-specific phenotypes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Oct 29;93(22):12418–12422. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.22.12418. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Stocker H., Hafen E. Genetic control of cell size. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2000 Oct;10(5):529–535. doi: 10.1016/s0959-437x(00)00123-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tapon N., Moberg K. H., Hariharan I. K. The coupling of cell growth to the cell cycle. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2001 Dec;13(6):731–737. doi: 10.1016/s0955-0674(00)00284-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Weinkove D., Neufeld T. P., Twardzik T., Waterfield M. D., Leevers S. J. Regulation of imaginal disc cell size, cell number and organ size by Drosophila class I(A) phosphoinositide 3-kinase and its adaptor. Curr Biol. 1999 Sep 23;9(18):1019–1029. doi: 10.1016/s0960-9822(99)80450-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES