The social lives of migrating cells in Drosophila

Studies of cell migration in Drosophila are yielding insights into the complex interactions migrating cells have with each other and with the cells in their environment. Intriguing links between factors that promote cell migration and those that control cell survival have been reported recently. For example, migrating germ cells compete with the surrounding somatic tissue for the substrate of the lipid phosphate phosphatases encoded by the genes Wunen and Wunen2. Germ cells take up the dephosphorylated lipid and require it for their survival. In addition, the secreted growth factors called PVFs, previously thought to guide the migrations of hemocytes in the embryo, were found to function instead predominantly as survival factors. And in border cells, DIAP1 and Dronc, two proteins known mainly for their ability to regulate cell death, were found to control cell migration.