dissection-lipid-droplet-staining-oenocytes-drosophila

Dissection and Lipid Droplet Staining of Oenocytes in <em>Drosophila</em> Larvae

Lipids are essential for animal development and physiological homeostasis. Dysregulation of lipid metabolism results in various developmental defects and ...

Guangzhou Medical University

Deregulation of the evolutionarily conserved Hippo pathway has been implicated in abnormal development of animals and in several types of cancer. One mechanism of Hippo pathway regulation is achieved by controlling the stability of its regulatory components. However, the executive E3 ligases that are involved in this process, and how the process is regulated, remain poorly defined. In this study, we identify, through a genetic candidate screen, the SCF(Slmb) E3 ligase as a novel negative regulator of the Hippo pathway in Drosophila imaginal tissues via mediation of the degradation of Expanded (Ex). Mechanistic study shows that Slmb-mediated degradation of Ex is inhibited by the Hippo signaling. Considering the fact that Hippo signaling suppresses the transcription of ex, we propose that the Hippo pathway employs a double security mechanism to ensure fine-tuned homeostasis during development. 

SCF(Slmb) E3 ligase-mediated degradation of Expanded is inhibited by the Hippo pathway in Drosophila.

Tissue expansion and patterning are integral to development; however, it is unknown quantitatively how a mother accumulates molecular resources to invest in the future of instructing robust embryonic patterning. Here we develop a model, Tissue Expansion-Modulated Maternal Morphogen Scaling (TEM(3)S), to study scaled anterior-posterior patterning in Drosophila embryos. Using both ovaries and embryos, we measure a core quantity of the model, the scaling power of the Bicoid (Bcd) morphogen gradient's amplitude nA. We also evaluate directly model-derived predictions about Bcd gradient and patterning properties. Our results show that scaling of the Bcd gradient in the embryo originates from, and is constrained fundamentally by, a dynamic relationship between maternal tissue expansion and bcd gene copy number expansion in the ovary. This delicate connection between the two transitioning stages of a life cycle, stemming from a finite value of nA~3, underscores a key feature of developmental systems depicted by TEM(3)S. 

Fundamental origins and limits for scaling a maternal morphogen gradient.

Autophagy has been evolved as one of the adaptive cellular processes in response to stresses such as nutrient deprivation. Various cellular cargos such as damaged organelles and protein aggregates can be selectively degraded through autophagy. Recently, the lipid storage organelle, lipid droplet (LD), has been reported to be the cargo of starvation-induced autophagy. However, it remains largely unknown how the autophagy machinery recognizes the LDs and whether it can selectively degrade LDs. In this study, we show that Drosophila histone deacetylase 6 (dHDAC6), a key regulator of selective autophagy, is required for the LD turnover in the hepatocyte-like oenocytes in response to starvation. HDAC6 regulates LD turnover via p62/SQSTM1 (sequestosome 1)-mediated aggresome formation, suggesting that the selective autophagy machinery is required for LD recognition and degradation. Furthermore, our results show that the loss of dHDAC6 causes steatosis in response to starvation. Our findings suggest that there is a potential link between selective autophagy and susceptible predisposition to lipid metabolism associated diseases in stress conditions.

Article	Year
SCF(Slmb) E3 ligase-mediated degradation of Expanded is inhibited by the Hippo pathway in Drosophila. Cell research\| PubMed ID: 25522691	2015
Fundamental origins and limits for scaling a maternal morphogen gradient. Nature communications\| PubMed ID: 25809405	2015
HDAC6 regulates lipid droplet turnover in response to nutrient deprivation via p62-mediated selective autophagy. Journal of genetics and genomics = Yi chuan xue bao\| PubMed ID: 31078436	2019

Chuanxian Wei

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