... muscle depends on Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (Alk) receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling, which specifies founder cells (FCs) in the circular visceral mesoderm (VM). Although Alk activation by its ligand Jelly Belly (Jeb) is well characterized, few target molecules have been identified. Here, we used...

... of visceral myogenesis. Subsequent characterisation of the mutations revealed that they are novel alleles of jelly belly ( jeb ) and the Drosophila Alk homologue named milliways ( mili Alk ). We show that the process of founder cell determination in the visceral mesoderm depends on Jeb signalling via...