We propose to analyze how membrane trafficking and the tissue polarity proteins control junctional remodeling and prepupal wing morphogenesis

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In order to form well-ordered tissues, epithelial cells coordinate the polarity of subcellular structures along an axis within the plane of the epithelium. In vertebrates, ciliated epithelia and the sensory hair cells in the inner ear are just two examples of epithelia in which planar polarization is critical for function. In the Drosophila wing, planar polarity is reflected in the uniform distal orientation of wing hairs, one of which is made by each cell. The planar axis is communicated between cells hours before wing hairs form; the earliest molecular readout of polarity is localization of Flamingo, a homophilic adhesion molecule, to the proximal and distal cell boundaries. Localization depends on Frizzled-mediated intercellular signaling, but the molecular connections between Frizzled signaling and Flamingo localization are not understood. Recently, we have shown that Diego, a protein with six ankyrin repeats, also localizes to proximal-distal boundaries and is required for Frizzled-dependent localization of Flamingo. The experiments we propose are designed to identify the cell biological mechanisms of Diego and Flamingo polarization, and to determine how the direction of their polarization is communicated to other cells.