Different modes of APC/C activation control growth and neuron-glia interaction in the developing eye.

The development of the nervous system requires tight control of cell division, fate specification and migration. The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that affects different steps of cell cycle progression, as well as having postmitotic functions in nervous system development. It can therefore link different developmental stages in one tissue. The two adaptor proteins, Fizzy/Cdc20 and Fizzy-related/Cdh1, confer APC/C substrate specificity. Here, we show that two distinct modes of APC/C function act during eye development. Fizzy/Cdc20 controls the early growth of the eye disc anlage and the concomitant entry of glial cells onto the disc. In contrast, acts during neuronal patterning and photoreceptor axon growth, and subsequently affects neuron-glia interaction. To further address the postmitotic role of Fzr/Cdh1 in controlling neuron-glia interaction, we identified a series of novel APC/C candidate substrates. Four of our candidate genes are required for -dependent neuron-glia interaction, including the dynein light chain Taken together, our data show how different modes of APC/C activation can couple early growth and neuron-glia interaction during eye disc development.