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Full Abstracts – PLENARY SESSION II
118
A mechanism of morphogen protein dispersion mediated at points of direct contact.
Thomas B. Kornberg. Cardiovascular Research Institute,
University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Cytonemes, types of filopodia first identified in the Drosophila wing imaginal disc, were proposed to move signaling proteins between producing and
target cells. We now have evidence for several types of cytonemes that are diverse in composition and exhibit both specificity for stimulating ligands and
plasticity in orienting to novel sources of ligand. Receptors for ligands have punctal distributions specifically in responding cytonemes, and puncta
containing both ligand and receptor can be found in cytonemes that make direct contact with ligand-expressing cells. These findings constitute experimental
evidence for a mechanism of morphogen protein dispersion and support cytoneme-based movement of signaling proteins as a mechanism for cell-cell
communication that transfers controlled amounts of signaling protein in a targeted manner to a specific recipient cell.