Reconstitution of Torso signaling in cultured cells suggests a role for both Trunk and Torso-like in receptor activation.

Smita Amarnath, Leslie M Stevens, David S Stein

Development (Cambridge, England) 2017 Feb 15

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Formation of the Drosophila embryonic termini is controlled by the localized activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase Torso. Both Torso and Torso's presumed ligand, Trunk, are expressed uniformly in the early embryo. Polar activation of Torso requires Torso-like, which is expressed by follicle cells adjacent to the ends of the developing oocyte. We find that Torso expressed at high levels in cultured Drosophila cells is activated by individual application of Trunk, Torso-like or another known Torso ligand, Prothoracicotropic Hormone. In addition to assays of downstream signaling activity, Torso dimerization was detected using bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Trunk and Torso-like were active when co-transfected with Torso and when presented to Torso-expressing cells in conditioned medium. Trunk and Torso-like were also taken up from conditioned medium specifically by cells expressing Torso. At low levels of Torso, similar to those present in the embryo, Trunk and Torso-like alone were ineffective but acted synergistically to stimulate Torso signaling. Our results suggest that Torso interacts with both Trunk and Torso-like, which cooperate to mediate dimerization and activation of Torso at the ends of the Drosophila embryo. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Citation

Smita Amarnath, Leslie M Stevens, David S Stein. Reconstitution of Torso signaling in cultured cells suggests a role for both Trunk and Torso-like in receptor activation. Development (Cambridge, England). 2017 Feb 15;144(4):677-686