A functional analysis of the Drosophila gene hindsight: evidence for positive regulation of EGFR signaling

We have investigated the relationship between the function of the gene hindsight (hnt), which is the Drosophila homolog of Ras Responsive Element Binding protein-1 (RREB-1), and the EGFR signaling pathway. We report that hnt mutant embryos are defective in EGFR signaling dependent processes, namely chordotonal organ recruitment and oenocyte specification. We also show the temperature sensitive hypomorphic allele hntpebbled is enhanced by the hypomorphic MAPK allele rolled (rl1). We find that hnt overexpression results in ectopic DPax2 expression within the embryonic peripheral nervous system, and we show that this effect is EGFR-dependent. Finally, we show that the canonical U-shaped embryonic lethal phenotype of hnt, which is associated with premature degeneration of the extraembyonic amnioserosa and a failure in germ band retraction, is rescued by expression of several components of the EGFR signaling pathway (sSpi, Ras85DV12, pntP1) as well as the caspase inhibitor p35. Based on this collection of corroborating evidence, we suggest that an overarching function of hnt involves the positive regulation of EGFR signaling.