Intertissue mechanical stress affects frizzled-mediated planar cell polarity in the drosophila notum epidermis

Abstract

Frizzled/planar cell polarity (Fz/PCP) signaling controls the orientation of sensory bristles and cellular hairs (trichomes) along the anteroposterior axis of the Drosophila thorax (notum) [1-4]. A subset of the trichome-producing notum cells differentiate as "tendon cells," serving as attachment sites for the indirect flight muscles (IFMs) to the exoskeleton [5]. Through the analysis of chascon (chas), a gene identified by its ability to disrupt Fz/PCP signaling under overexpression conditions, and jitterbug (jbug)/filamin [6], we show that maintenance of anteroposterior planar polarization requires the notum epithelia to balance mechanical stress generated by the attachment of the IFMs. chas is expressed in notum tendon cells, and its loss of function disturbs cellular orientation at and near the regions where IFMs attach to the epidermis. This effect is independent of the Fz/PCP and fat/dachsous systems [7]. The chas phenotype arises during normal shortening of the IFMs [8] and is s