... declines inversely proportionally to the increase in its area. How the observed reduction in the growth rate is achieved is unknown. Here, we explore the dilution of the cytokine Unpaired (Upd) as a possible candidate mechanism. In the developing eye, upd expression is transient, ceasing at the time when...

.../STAT ligand Unpaired (Upd) and BMPs to maintain CySCs and GSCs, respectively. However, GSCs also require BMPs produced by CySCs, and as such CySCs are part of the niche for GSCs. Here we describe a role for another secreted ligand, Hedgehog (Hh), produced by niche cells, in the self-renewal of CySCs...

... induce expression of upd , which encodes the ligand for the Jak/STAT pathway and acts over long distance to promote cell proliferation. Loss of eyg or N can be compensated by overexpressing upd . These results suggest that upd is a major effector mediating the function of eyg and N . The functional link...