Mapping the calcium signalsome during Drosophila wing development

Abstract Second messengers such as calcium (Ca 2+ ) play critical roles in signal integration for complex, multicellular processes. However, how components of Ca 2+ signaling regulates tissue development is poorly studied. Recently, we have discovered that perturbing Ca 2+ signaling differentially across the developing Drosophila wing results in three-dimensional distortions to the final wing architecture. This finding prompted us to pursue a comprehensive high-content screen for phenotypes generated by perturbing known calcium-related genes. The rapidly-expanding dataset includes deep coverage (~30 wings/perturbation) and a high-resolution dataset of over 7,000 fly wing images. Preliminary findings indicate that perturbation of Ca 2+ signaling leads to several classes of wing developmental phenotypes including thickening of veins, bifurcations, and wing crumpling. High-dimensional fingerprinting of these phenotypes revealed several clusters of genes, implying mechanistic interactions as well as novel roles for calcium-related genes in morphogenesis. Future work will focus on validation of interactions within gene clusters and identifying novel consequences of perturbation of Ca 2+ signaling on development.