Signalling Pathways in Development and Human Disease: A Drosophila Wing Perspective

Abstract

The proteins involved in signalling are organised in several signalling pathways, and both these proteins and their molecular interactions are conserved during evolution. In this chapter we describe the genetic structure of the main conserved signalling pathways identified in multicellular organisms, focusing in those signalling pathways in which the activation of cell receptors by proteins with ligand activity is linked to transcriptional responses. These pathways play key roles during normal development, and their de- regulation has been implicated in a variety of human diseases. We will emphasize the conservation of the proteins and mechanisms involved in each of these pathways, and describe the Drosophila wing imaginal disc as an experimental system to dissect cell signalling in vivo. Finally, we will discuss some of the strategies that are been used to identify additional components of signalling pathways in Drosophila. Our main aim is to underline the general structure of signalling pathways, the relevance of signalling for normal development and for the appearance of multitude of human diseases, and describe several strategies that Drosophila genetics offers in biomedical research.