A kinase translocation reporter reveals real-time dynamics of ERK activity in Drosophila

Biology Open

Anadika R. Prasad¹  Alice C. Yuen¹  Marc Amoyel¹  Vilaiwan M. Fernandes¹ 

[1] Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK;

关键词: drosophila;    erk signalling;    kinase translocation reporter;    live imaging;    signalling dynamics;   

DOI  :  10.1242/bio.059364

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) lies downstream of a core signalling cascade that controls all aspects of development and adult homeostasis. Recent developments have led to new tools to image and manipulate the pathway. However, visualising ERK activity in vivo with high temporal resolution remains a challenge in Drosophila. We adapted a kinase translocation reporter (KTR) for use in Drosophila, which shuttles out of the nucleus when phosphorylated by ERK. We show that ERK-KTR faithfully reports endogenous ERK signalling activity in developing and adult tissues, and that it responds to genetic perturbations upstream of ERK. Using ERK-KTR in time-lapse imaging, we made two novel observations: firstly, sustained hyperactivation of ERK by expression of dominant-active epidermal growth factor receptor raised the overall level but did not alter the kinetics of ERK activity; secondly, the direction of migration of retinal basal glia correlated with their ERK activity levels, suggesting an explanation for the heterogeneity in ERK activity observed in fixed tissue. Our results show that KTR technology can be applied in Drosophila to monitor ERK activity in real-time and suggest that this modular tool can be further adapted to study other kinases.

【 授权许可】

Unknown