Department of Biotechnology
inStem (Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine)

Multiple Wnts act synergistically to induce Chk1/Grapes expression and mediate G2 arrest in tracheoblasts.

Publication Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

September 2, 2020

Journal

eLife

Volume/Issue

9

ISSN

2050-084X

Larval tracheae of harbour progenitors of the adult tracheal system (tracheoblasts). Thoracic tracheoblasts are arrested in the G2 phase of the cell cycle in an ATR (mei-41)-Checkpoint Kinase1 (grapes, Chk1) dependent manner prior to mitotic re-entry. Here we investigate developmental regulation of Chk1 activation. We report that Wnt signaling is high in tracheoblasts and this is necessary for high levels of activated (phosphorylated) Chk1. We find that canonical Wnt signaling facilitates this by transcriptional upregulation of Chk1 expression in cells that have ATR kinase activity. Wnt signaling is dependent on four Wnts (Wg, Wnt5, 6,10) that are expressed at high levels in arrested tracheoblasts and are downregulated at mitotic re-entry. Interestingly, none of the Wnts are dispensable and act synergistically to induce Chk1. Finally, we show that downregulation of Wnt signaling and Chk1 expression leads to mitotic re-entry and the concomitant upregulation of Dpp signaling, driving tracheoblast proliferation.

Alternate Journal

Elife

PubMed ID

32876044

PubMed Central ID

PMC7505655

Authors

Amrutha Kizhedathu
Rose Sebastian Kunnappallil
Archit V Bagul
Puja Verma
Arjun Guha

Keywords

Drosophila
Drosophila Proteins
Wnt Signaling Pathway
Wnt Proteins
Checkpoint Kinase 1
G2 Phase
Trachea
Animals