Our first lab preprint — feeling like a very proud mentor today!

6/n After an injury, hemocytes migrate to the gut and remain there for several days, a response that relies on hemocyte Upd3. Their presence is critical for epithelial defense—flies lacking hemocyte Upd3 fail to mount this protective response and succumb to what would normally be a benign infection.

5/n Following injury, chronic JAK–STAT activity persisted in enterocytes and visceral muscle for ~10 days. 10xSTAT-GFP data showed that this sustained signaling required hemocyte Upd3, establishing a long-term Upd3→STAT axis in the gut epithelium.

4/n Injury triggers gut proliferation via hemocyte Upd3. This regenerative wave is lost in Hml>Upd3 RNAi flies, leading to premature gut aging with epithelial hyperplasia and excess enterocytes. Hemocyte Upd3 is thus essential for balanced epithelial renewal post-injury.

3/n The loss of Upd3 in hemocytes compromises gut barrier integrity after thoracic injury. Flies with reduced hemocyte Upd3 showed blue dye leakage into the body cavity after injury, indicating epithelial barrier failure. Thus, hemocyte Upd3 is essential for gut integrity after distant wounding.

2/n To examine how a local wound influences distant organs, we used a simple injury model — a prick to the thorax of adult Drosophila.
We study the communication between the wound site and other tissues, and hemocytes relay systemic signals that preserve epithelial integrity beyond the injury site.

1/n Fly blood cells sense injury through reactive oxygen signals and release the cytokine Upd3, which activates JAK–STAT signaling in the gut to reinforce its barrier, balance cell turnover, and prevent lethal leakage.

A single wound, a whole-body survival plan.

Happy to have contributed to these important papers

Congrats to your team Helena