Spatio-Temporal Regulation of Notch Activation in Asymmetrically Dividing Sensory Organ Precursor Cells in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> Epithelium

Abstract

The Notch communication pathway, discovered in Drosophila over 100 years ago, regulates a wide range of intra-lineage decisions in metazoans. The division of the Drosophila mechanosensory organ precursor is the archetype of asymmetric cell division in which differential Notch activation takes place at cytokinesis. Here, we review the molecular mechanisms by which epithelial cell polarity, cell cycle and intracellular trafficking participate in controlling the directionality, subcellular localization and temporality of mechanosensitive Notch receptor activation in cytokinesis.

Keywords

• Notch signaling
• asymmetric cell division
• cell fate determinants
• cell polarity
• epithelial cells
• <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>