In Drosophila, Dachsous and Fat act as ligand and receptor, respectively, for a signalling pathway that regulates planar cell polarity (PCP) and transcription via the Hippo pathway. Mammals encode multiple Fat and Dachsous proteins but do they have an equivalent Fat signalling pathway? On p. 947, Yaopan Mao and colleagues report that murine Dchs1 and Fat4 function as a ligand-receptor pair during development. The researchers show that Dchs1 and Fat4 single mutants and Dchs1 Fat4 double mutants exhibit similar phenotypes. These phenotypes include the formation of kidney cysts and cochlear defects, suggesting that Dchs1-Fat4 signalling influences PCP in mice. However, the researchers also identify non-PCP-related requirements for Dchs1-Fat4 signalling in the development of other organs. In particular, they show that Dchs1 and Fat4 are needed for growth, branching and cell survival during early kidney development. Together, these results identify Dchs1 and Fat4 as a ligand-receptor pair for mammalian Fat signalling and identify new requirements for Fat signalling in multiple organs.
Full Fat signalling in mammals: Dchs1 and Fat4 pair up
Full Fat signalling in mammals: Dchs1 and Fat4 pair up. Development 1 March 2011; 138 (5): e502. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
About us

Our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 this year. Read about the history of the Company and find out what Sarah Bray, our Chair of the Board of Directors, has to say.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025

We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues

Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology

In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
In preprints
Did you know that Development publishes perspectives on recent preprints? These articles help our readers navigate the ever-growing preprint literature. We welcome proposals for ‘In preprints’ articles, so please do get in touch if you’d like to contribute.