A single-cell atlas of Drosophila trachea reveals glycosylation-mediated Notch signaling in cell fate specification

The evolution of sexual secondary characteristics necessitates regulatory factors that confer sexual identity to differentiating tissues and cells. In Colias eurytheme butterflies, males exhibit two specialized wing scale types — UV-iridescent (UVI) and lanceolate scales — absent in females and likely integral to male courtship behavior. This study investigates the regulatory mechanisms and single-nucleus transcriptomics underlying these two sexually dimorphic cell types during wing development. We show that Doublesex (Dsx) expression is itself dimorphic and required to repress the UVI cell state in females, while unexpectedly, UVI activation in males is independent from Dsx. In the melanic marginal band, Dsx is required in each sex to enforce the presence of lanceolate scales in males, and their absence in females. Single-nucleus RNAseq reveals that UV-iridescent and lanceolate scale cell precursors each show distinctive gene expression profiles at 40% of pupal development, with marker genes that include regulators of transcription, cell signaling, cytoskeletal patterning, and chitin secretion. Both male-specific cell types share a low expression of the Bric-a-brac (Bab) transcription factor, a key repressor of the UVI fate. Bab ChIP-seq profiling suggests that Bab binds the cis-regulatory regions of gene markers associated to UVI fate, including potential effector genes involved in the regulation of cytoskeletal processes and chitin secretion, and loci showing signatures of recent selective sweeps in an UVI-polymorphic population. These findings open new avenues for exploring wing patterning and scale development, shedding light on the mechanisms driving the specification of sex-specific cell states and the differentiation of specialized cell ultrastructures.

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Drosophila melanogaster as an Alternative Model to Higher Organisms for In Vivo Lung Research

Ehrhardt,

Roeder,

Krauss-Etschmann

2024

IJMS

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COPD and asthma are lung diseases that cause considerable burden to more than 800 million people worldwide. As both lung diseases are so far incurable, it is mandatory to understand the mechanisms underlying disease development and progression for developing novel therapeutic approaches. Exposures to environmental cues such as cigarette smoke in earliest life are known to increase disease risks in the individual’s own future. To explore the pathomechanisms leading to later airway disease, mammalian models are instrumental. However, such in vivo experiments are time-consuming and burdensome for the animals, which applies in particular to transgenerational studies. Along this line, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster comes with several advantages for research in this field. The short lifespan facilitates transgenerational studies. A high number of evolutionary conserved signaling pathways, together with a large toolbox for tissue-specific gene modification, has the potential to identify novel target genes involved in disease development. A well-defined airway microbiome could help to untangle interactions between disease development and microbiome composition. In the following article, Drosophila melanogaster is therefore presented and discussed as an alternative in vivo model to investigate airway diseases that can complement and/or replace models in higher organisms.

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A single-cell atlas of Drosophila trachea reveals glycosylation-mediated Notch signaling in cell fate specification

Cited by 3 publications

References 84 publications

Stretchable and stable neuromorphic tactile system

Stretchable and stable neuromorphic tactile system

Single-nucleus transcriptomics of wing sexual dimorphism and scale cell specialization in sulphur butterflies

Drosophila melanogaster as an Alternative Model to Higher Organisms for In Vivo Lung Research

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