Signaling cross-talk during development: Context-specific networking of Notch, NF-κB and JNK signaling pathways in Drosophila

Multicellular organisms depend on a handful of core signaling pathways that regulate a variety of cell fate choices. Often these relatively simple signals integrate to form a large and complex signaling network to achieve a distinct developmental fate in a context-specific manner. Various pathway-dependent and independent events control the assembly of signaling complexes. Notch pathway is one such conserved signaling mechanism that integrates with other signaling pathways to exhibit a context-dependent pleiotropic output. To understand how Notch signaling provides a spectrum of distinct outputs, it is important to understand various regulatory switches involved in mediating signaling cross-talk of Notch with other pathways. Here, we review our current understanding as to how Notch signal integrates with JNK and NF-κB signaling pathways in Drosophila to regulate various developmental events such as sensory organ precursor formation, innate immunity, dorsal closure, establishment of planar cell polarity as well as during proliferation and tumor progression. We highlight the importance of conserved signaling molecules during these cross-talks and debate further possibilities of novel switches that may be involved in mediating these cross-talk events.