Sex-Specific Deployment of FGF Signaling in Drosophila Recruits Mesodermal Cells into the Male Genital Imaginal Disc

A central issue in developmental biology is how the deployment of generic signaling proteins produces diverse specific outcomes. We show that Drosophila FGF is used, only in males, to recruit mesodermal cells expressing its receptor to become part of the genital imaginal disc. Male-specific deployment of FGF signaling is controlled by the sex determination regulatory gene doublesex. The recruited mesodermal cells become epithelial and differentiate into parts of the internal genitalia. Our results provide exceptions to two basic tenets of imaginal disc biology—that imaginal disc cells are derived from the embryonic ectoderm and belong to either an anterior or posterior compartment. The recruited mesodermal cells migrate into the disc late in development and are neither anterior nor posterior.