Epithelial cell-turnover ensures robust coordination of tissue growth in Drosophila ribosomal protein mutants

Highly reproducible tissue development is achieved by robust, time-dependent coordination of cell proliferation and cell death. To study the mechanisms underlying robust tissue growth, we analyzed the developmental process of wing imaginal discs in Drosophila Minute mutants, a series of heterozygous mutants for a ribosomal protein gene. Minute animals show significant developmental delay during the larval period but develop into essentially normal flies, suggesting there exists a mechanism ensuring robust tissue growth during abnormally prolonged developmental time. Surprisingly, we found that both cell death and compensatory cell proliferation were dramatically increased in developing wing pouches of Minute animals. Blocking the cell-turnover by inhibiting cell death resulted in morphological defects, indicating the essential role of cell-turnover in Minute wing morphogenesis. Our analyses showed that Minute wing discs elevate Wg expression and JNK-mediated Dilp8 expression that causes developmental delay, both of which are necessary for the induction of cell-turnover. Furthermore, forced increase in Wg expression together with developmental delay caused by ecdysone depletion induced cell-turnover in the wing pouches of non-Minute animals. Our findings suggest a novel paradigm for robust coordination of tissue growth by cell-turnover, which is induced when developmental time axis is distorted.

Automated summary

The study found that in Drosophila Minute mutants, both cell death and compensatory cell proliferation are significantly increased during development, highlighting the essential role of cell-turnover in robust tissue growth.