Regenerative growth is constrained by brain tumor to ensure proper patterning in Drosophila

Syeda Nayab Fatima Abidi, Felicity Ting Yu Hsu, Rachel K. Smith-Bolton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Some animals respond to injury by inducing new growth to regenerate the lost structures. This regenerative growth must be carefully controlled and constrained to prevent aberrant growth and to allow correct organization of the regenerating tissue. However, the factors that restrict regenerative growth have not been identified. Using a genetic ablation system in the Drosophila wing imaginal disc, we have identified one mechanism that constrains regenerative growth, impairment of which also leads to erroneous patterning of the final appendage. Regenerating discs with reduced levels of the RNA-regulator Brain tumor (Brat) exhibit enhanced regeneration, but produce adult wings with disrupted margins that are missing extensive tracts of sensory bristles. In these mutants, aberrantly high expression of the pro-growth factor Myc and its downstream targets likely contributes to this loss of cell-fate specification. Thus, Brat constrains the expression of pro-regeneration genes and ensures that the regenerating tissue forms the proper final structure.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number)e1011103
JournalPLoS genetics
Volume19
Issue number12
Early online dateDec 21 2023
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 21 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics
  • Genetics(clinical)
  • Cancer Research

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