Drosophila mechanoreceptors as a model for studying asymmetric cell division

Abstract

Asymmetric cell division (ACD) is one of the processes creating the overall diversity of cell types in multicellular organisms. The essence of this process is that the daughter cells exit from it being different from both the parental cell and one another in their ability to further differentiation and specialization. The large bristles (macrochaetae) that are regularly arranged on the surface of the Drosophila adult function as mechanoreceptors, and since their development requires ACD, they have been extensively used as a model system for studying the genetic control of this process. Each macrochaete is composed of four specialized cells, the progeny resulting from several ACDs from a single sensory organ precursor (SOP) cell, which differentiates from the ectodermal cells of the wing imaginal disc in the third-instar larva and pupa. In this paper we review the experimental data on the genes and their products controlling the ACDs of the SOP cell and its daughter cells, and their further specialization. We discuss the main mechanisms determining the time when the cell enters ACD, as well as the mechanisms providing for the structural characteristics of asymmetric division, namely, polar distribution of protein determinants (Numb and Neuralized), orientation of the division spindle relative to these determinants, and unequal segregation of the determinants specifying the direction of daughter cell development.

Regulation of centrosome movements by Numb and the Collapsin Response Mediator Protein during Drosophila sensory progenitor asymmetric division

“…Notch signalling controls key cell fate specification events during stem cell and progenitor divisions, including during the asymmetric cell division of the Drosophila sensory organ precursor cell (SOP or pI cell) (for a review, see Furman and Bukharina, 2011). In the dorsal thorax, pI cells divide along the Drosophila body axis to generate a posterior pIIa cell and an anterior pIIb cell, which subsequently divide to form the external and internal sensory organ cells, respectively (Fichelson and Gho, 2003;Gho et al, 1999).…”

Analysis of the Transcriptomes Downstream of Eyeless and the Hedgehog, Decapentaplegic and Notch Signaling Pathways in Drosophila melanogaster

“…The Drosophila imaginal discs have been used to study everything from the mechanisms of asymmetric cell division [191] to the mechanisms of tissue repair and regeneration [192], [193], [194]. However, although a number of studies have generated transcriptome data (generally microarray data) from Drosophila imaginal discs (eg.…”

Stem Cells and Asymmetric Cell Division

“…In particular, a role for primary cilia in switching between canonical and the non-canonical planar cell polarity (PCP ) Wnt signalling pathway has been proposed, yet remains controversial (Goetz and Anderson 2010 ). Drosophila sensory organ precursors divide asymmetrically under the control of the PCP Wnt pathway yet cilia are not required for this or other pathways in Drosophila , the only cells that contain this structure being sensory neurons (Goetz and Anderson 2010 ;Satir et al 2010 ;Furman and Bukharina 2011 ).…”