Developmental biology: Fruit flies shed light on blood cell development
Researchers have shown that a signalling centre in the fruitfly lymph gland controls the maintenance of blood cell precursors. The findings suggest that Drosophila could prove a useful model for studying blood development and immunity.

Blood precursor cells yield all of the different cells found in the blood system. In fruitflies, at least, this system is controlled by signals generated in part of the lymph gland called the posterior signalling centre (PSC), two Nature papers report. Signalling occurs via the JAK/STAT and Notch pathways, already well known for their roles in cell proliferation and differentiation, teams lead by Utpal Banerjee and Michele Crozatier report. And the PSC starts to form early in embryonic development.

Drosophila is relatively easy to modify genetically and so widely used in research. Modification of the genes highlighted in these papers is likely to shed light on the mechanics of blood development. And Drosophila studies also yield the prospect of direct in vivo imaging of blood cell precursors interacting with their stem cell niche.

CONTACTUtpal Banerjee (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA) Author paper [1]
Tel: +1 310 206 5439; E-mail: banerjee@mbi.ucla.edu

Michele Crozatier (CNRS-Centre de Biologie du Developpement, Toulouse, France) Author paper [2]
Tel: +33 5 61 55 82 90; E-mail: crozat@cict.fr