Endocytosis of Wingless via a dynamin-independent pathway is necessary for signaling in Drosophila wing discs.

Endocytosis of ligand-receptor complexes regulates signal transduction during development. In particular, clathrin and dynamin-dependent endocytosis has been well studied in the context of patterning of the Drosophila wing disc, wherein apically secreted Wingless (Wg) encounters its receptor, DFrizzled2 (DFz2), resulting in a distinctive dorso-ventral pattern of signaling outputs. Here, we directly track the endocytosis of Wg and DFz2 in the wing disc and demonstrate that Wg is endocytosed from the apical surface devoid of DFz2 via a dynamin-independent CLIC/GEEC pathway, regulated by Arf1, Garz, and class I PI3K. Subsequently, Wg containing CLIC/GEEC endosomes fuse with DFz2-containing vesicles derived from the clathrin and dynamin-dependent endocytic pathway, which results in a low pH-dependent transfer of Wg to DFz2 within the merged and acidified endosome to initiate Wg signaling. The employment of two distinct endocytic pathways exemplifies a mechanism wherein cells in tissues leverage multiple endocytic pathways to spatially regulate signaling.