Regulation of BMP activity and range in Drosophila wing development

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling controls development and maintenance of many tissues. Genetic and quantitative approaches in Drosophila reveal that ligand isoforms show distinct function in wing development. Spatiotemporal control of BMP patterning depends on a network of extracellular proteins Pent, Ltl and Dally that regulate BMP signaling strength and morphogen range. BMP-mediated feedback regulation of Pent, Ltl, and Dally expression provides a system where cells actively respond to, and modify, the extracellular morphogen landscape to form a gradient that exhibits remarkable properties, including proportional scaling of BMP patterning with tissue size and the modulation of uniform tissue growth. This system provides valuable insights into mechanisms that mitigate the influence of variability to regulate cell–cell interactions and maintain organ function.

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► Different BMPs have different properties that affect long-range signaling.
► Distribution of BMP activity scales with tissue size of developing fly wings.
► Extracellular proteins modulate flux of BMPs over epithelium of wing primordium.
► BMP signaling feeds back to regulate levels of proteins that modulate BMP flux.
► Newly discovered BMP regulators have complex behaviors and phenotypic outcomes.