Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
All animals coordinate growth and maturation to reach theirfinal size and shape. In insects, insulin family molecules controlgrowth and metabolism, whereas pulses of the steroid 20-hydroxyecdysone(20E) initiate major developmental transitions. We show that20E signaling also negatively controls animal growth rates byimpeding general insulin signaling involving localization ofthe transcription factor dFOXO and transcription of the translationinhibitor 4E-BP. We also demonstrate that the larval fat body,equivalent to the vertebrate liver, is a key relay element forecdysone-dependent growth inhibition. Hence, ecdysone counteractsthe growth-promoting action of insulins, thus forming a humoralregulatory loop that determines organismal size.
1 CNRS/University of Nice–Sophia Antipolis, UMR6543, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France. 2 CNRS FRE2852, Université P. et M. Curie, 7 quai St. Bernard, 75252 Paris, France. 3 Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris, France.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
Present address: Cancer Research UK, London Institute, 44 Lincoln'sInn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, UK.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: leopold{at}unice.fr
Reduced growth of Drosophila neurofibromatosis 1 mutants reflects a non-cell-autonomous requirement for GTPase-Activating Protein activity in larval neurons.
J. A. Walker, A. V. Tchoudakova, P. T. McKenney, S. Brill, D. Wu, G. S. Cowley, I. K. Hariharan, and A. Bernards (2006)
Genes & Dev.
20, 3311-3323
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Control of Metabolism and Growth Through Insulin-Like Peptides in Drosophila.
C. Geminard, N. Arquier, S. Layalle, M. Bourouis, M. Slaidina, R. Delanoue, M. Bjordal, M. Ohanna, M. Ma, J. Colombani, et al. (2006)
Diabetes
55, S5-S8
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Mutation of TweedleD, a member of an unconventional cuticle protein family, alters body shape in Drosophila.
X. Guan, B. W. Middlebrooks, S. Alexander, and S. A. Wasserman (2006)
PNAS
103, 16794-16799
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Neverland is an evolutionally conserved Rieske-domain protein that is essential for ecdysone synthesis and insect growth.
T. Yoshiyama, T. Namiki, K. Mita, H. Kataoka, and R. Niwa (2006)
Development
133, 2565-2574
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Juvenile hormone is required to couple imaginal disc formation with nutrition in insects..
J. W. Truman, K. Hiruma, J. P. Allee, S. G. B. MacWhinnie, D. T. Champlin, and L. M. Riddiford (2006)
Science
312, 1385-1388
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Activation of nicotinic receptors uncouples a developmental timer from the molting timer in C. elegans.
Present address: Cancer Research UK, London Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, UK. 
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: 
