A Genetic Screen for Hedgehog Targets Involved in the Maintenance of the Drosophila Anteroposterior Compartment Boundary

The development of multicellular organisms requires the establishment of cell populations with different adhesion properties. In Drosophila, a cell-segregation mechanism underlies the maintenance of the anterior (A) and posterior (P) compartments of the wing imaginal disc. Although engrailed (en) activity contributes to the specification of the differential cell affinity between A and P cells, recent evidence suggests that cell sorting depends largely on the transduction of the Hh signal in A cells. The activator form of Cubitus interruptus (Ci), a transcription factor mediating Hh signaling, defines anterior specificity, indicating that Hh-dependent cell sorting requires Hh target gene expression. However, the identity of the gene(s) contributing to distinct A and P cell affinities is unknown. Here, we report a genetic screen based on the FRT/FLP system to search for genes involved in the correct establishment of the anteroposterior compartment boundary. By using double FRT chromosomes in combination with a wing-specific FLP source we screened 250,000 mutagenized chromosomes. Several complementation groups affecting wing patterning have been isolated, including new alleles of most known Hh-signaling components. Among these, we identified a class of patched (ptc) alleles exhibiting a novel phenotype. These results demonstrate the value of our setup in the identification of genes involved in distinct wing-patterning processes.