A sharp end to sugary Wingless travels

Ilia A Droujinine; Dong Yan; Norbert Perrimon

doi:10.1083/jcb.201408115

A sharp end to sugary Wingless travels

J Cell Biol. 2014 Sep 29;206(7):819-21. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201408115.

Authors

Ilia A Droujinine¹, Dong Yan¹, Norbert Perrimon²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
² Department of Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 Department of Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 perrimon@receptor.med.harvard.edu.

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster follicle stem cells are controlled by Wingless (Wg) ligands secreted 50 µm away, raising the question of how long-distance Wg spreading occurs. In this issue of JCB, Wang and Page-McCaw (2014. J. Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201403084) demonstrate a potential mechanism by which the heparan sulfate proteoglycan Dally-like (Dlp) promotes Wg travel, whereas matrix Mmp2 (Metalloproteinase 2) impedes it by inactivating Dlp.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Proliferation*
Drosophila melanogaster / enzymology*
Female
Male
Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / physiology*
Stem Cells / physiology*

Substances

Matrix Metalloproteinase 2

Grants and funding

Howard Hughes Medical Institute/United States