RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 FGF signals direct myotube guidance by regulating Rho/Rac activity
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 697789
DO 10.1101/697789
A1 Yang, Shuo
A1 Weske, Allison
A1 Du, Yingqiu
A1 Valera, Juliana
A1 Johnson, Aaron N.
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/10/697789.abstract
AB Nascent myotubes undergo a dramatic morphological transformation during myogenesis in which the myotubes elongate over several cell diameters and choose the correct muscle attachment sites. Although this process of myotube guidance is essential to pattern the musculoskeletal system, the mechanisms that control myotube guidance remain poorly understood. Using transcriptomics, we found that components of the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) signaling pathway were enriched in nascent myotubes in Drosophila embryos. Null mutations in the FGF receptor heartless (htl), or its ligands, caused significant myotube guidance defects. Mechanistically, paracrine FGF signals to the Htl regulates the activity of Rho/Rac GTPases in nascent myotubes to effect changes in the actin cytoskeleton. FGF signals are thus essential regulators of myotube guidance that act through cytoskeletal regulatory proteins to pattern the musculoskeletal system.