A genetic screen for regulators of muscle morphogenesis in Drosophila

Abstract

The mechanisms that determine the final topology of skeletal muscles remain largely unknown. We have been developing Drosophila body wall musculature as a model to identify and characterize the pathways that control muscle size, shape, and orientation during embryogenesis (Johnson et al., 2013; Williams et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2020a; Yang et al., 2020b). Our working model argues muscle morphogenesis is regulated by (1) extracellular guidance cues that direct muscle cells toward muscle attachment sites, and (2) contact dependent interactions between muscles and tendons. While we have identified several pathways that regulate muscle morphogenesis, our understanding is far from complete. Here we report the results of a recent EMS-based forward genetic screen that identified a myriad of loci not previously associated with muscle morphogenesis. We recovered new alleles of known muscle morphogenesis genes, including bsd, kon, ths, and tum, arguing our screening strategy was effective and efficient. We also identified and sequenced new alleles of salm, barr, and ptc that presumably disrupt independent pathways directing muscle morphogenesis. Equally as important, our screen shows that at least 11 morphogenetic loci remain to be identified. This screen has developed exciting new tools to study muscle morphogenesis, which may provide future insights into the mechanisms that determine skeletal muscle topology.