Nitric oxide regulates growth coordination during regeneration

Mechanisms that coordinate the growth of different tissues during development are essential for producing adult animals with proper organ proportion. Here we describe a pathway through which tissues communicate with each other to coordinate growth. During Drosophila melanogaster larval development, damage to imaginal discs activates a regeneration checkpoint that produces both a delay in developmental timing and slows the growth of undamaged tissues, coordinating regeneration of the damaged tissue with developmental progression and overall growth. Both developmental delay and growth control are mediated by secretion of the insulin/relaxin family peptide Dilp8 from regenerating tissues. Here we demonstrate that Dilp8-dependent growth coordination between regenerating and undamaged tissues, but not developmental delay, requires the activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the prothoracic gland. NOS limits the growth of undamaged tissues by reducing ecdysone biosynthesis, a requirement for imaginal disc growth during both the regenerative checkpoint and normal development. Therefore, NOS activity in the prothoracic gland translates information about the growth status of individual tissues into coordinated tissue growth through the regulation of endocrine signals.