Drosophila ML-DmD17-c3 cells respond robustly to Dpp and exhibit complex transcriptional feedback on BMP signaling components

BACKGROUND: BMP signaling is involved in myriad metazoan developmental processes, and study of this pathway in Drosophila has contributed greatly to our understanding of its molecular and genetic mechanisms. These studies have benefited not only from Drosophila’s advanced genetic tools, but from complimentary in vitro culture systems. However, the commonly-used S2 cell line is not intrinsically sensitive to the major BMP ligand Dpp and must therefore be augmented with exogenous pathway components for most experiments. RESULTS: Herein we identify and characterize the responses of Drosophila ML-DmD17-c3 cells, which are sensitive to Dpp stimulation and exhibit characteristic regulation of BMP target genes including Dad and brk. Dpp signaling in ML-DmD17-c3 cells is primarily mediated by the receptors Put and Tkv, with additional contributions from Wit and Sax. Furthermore, we report complex regulatory feedback on core pathway genes in this system. CONCLUSIONS: Native ML-DmD17-c3 cells exhibit robust transcriptional responses to BMP pathway induction. We propose that ML-DmD17-c3 cells are well-suited for future BMP pathway analyses. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12861-019-0181-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.