Glia in the fly wing are clonally related to epithelial cells and use the nerve as a pathway for migration

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Drosophila major wing nerve collects axons from the anterior margin sensory organs. Using the flp recombinase to make clones, I show that all glia present on this nerve are clonally related to wing epithelial cells. Glial cells arise only from regions that also give rise to sensory organs and migrate along the nerve following the direction taken by axons. As in vertebrates, wing glial cells start migrating at a stage at which axons are growing. The migration of wing glial cells is affected by two mutations altering axonogenesis, fused and Notch, which suggests that the two processes are tightly associated.