RT Journal Article
T1 Flower Forms an Extracellular Code that Reveals the Fitness of a Cell to its Neighbors in Drosophila
A1 Rhiner, Christa
A1 López-Gay, Jesús M.
A1 Soldini, Davide
A1 Casas Tintó, Sergio
A1 Martín Castro, Francisco Antonio
A1 Lombardía, Luis
A1 Moreno, Eduardo
AB Cell competition promotes the elimination of weaker cells from a growing population. Here we investigate how cells of Drosophila wing imaginal discs distinguish "winners" from "losers" during cell competition. Using genomic and functional assays, we have identified several factors implicated in the process, including Flower (Fwe), a cell membrane protein conserved in multicellular animals. Our results suggest that Fwe is a component of the cell competition response that is required and sufficient to label cells as "winners" or "losers." In Drosophila, the fwe locus produces three isoforms, fwe(ubi), fwe(Lose-A), and fwe(Lose-B). Basal levels of fwe(ubi) are constantly produced. During competition, the fwe(Lose) isoforms are upregulated in prospective loser cells. Cell-cell comparison of relative fwe(Lose) and fwe(ubi) levels ultimately determines which cell undergoes apoptosis. This "extracellular code" may constitute an ancient mechanism to terminate competitive conflicts among cells.
PB Elsevier
SN 1534-5807
YR 2010
FD 2010-06-15
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/128281
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/128281
LA eng
NO Rhiner C, López-Gay JM, Soldini D, Casas-Tinto S, Martín FA, Lombardía L, Moreno E. Flower forms an extracellular code that reveals the fitness of a cell to its neighbors in Drosophila. Dev Cell. 2010 Jun 15;18(6):985-98. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2010.05.010. PMID: 20627080.
NO We thank K. Basler, S. Carroll, M.F. Ruiz, L. Sanchez, G. Morata, N. Baker, the Developmental Hybridoma Bank, and the Bloomington and Vienna VDRC stock centers for materials; Guadalupe Luengo and the Genomic Unit of CNIO; Fernando Roncal, Leonor Kremer, and Giovanna Roncador for help in antibody production; Diego Megías and María Montoya for help with confocal microscopy; Miguel Torres and Offer Gerlitz for critically reading the manuscript; Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo for discussions about the evolution of multicellularity, and the European Research Council, the Fundación Mutua Madrileña, the Fundación Caja Madrid, and the Comunidad of Madrid for support.
NO European Research Council
NO Fundación Mutua Madrileña
NO Fundación Caja Madrid
NO Comunidad de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 30 dic 2025