In the developing Drosophila abdomen, the epithelial tissue displays extensive cytoskeletal remodeling.In stark contrast to the Juegos spatio-temporal control of the actin cytoskeleton, the regulation of microtubule architecture during epithelial morphogenesis has remained opaque.In particular, its role in cell motility remains unclear.
Here, we show that minus-end binding protein Patronin is required for organizing microtubule arrays in histoblast cells that form the Drosophila abdomen.Loss of Patronin results in a dorsal cleft, Disposable Tubes indicating the compromised function of histoblasts.We further show that Patronin is polarized in these cells and is required for the formation of highly dynamic non-centrosomal microtubules in the migrating histoblasts.
Thus, our study demonstrates that regulation of microtubule cytoskeleton through Patronin mediates epithelium remodeling.