Hammed Badmos

Cell migration is central to normal development, whilst aberrant migration is involved in a number of human diseases, including cancer. We are interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive collective cell migration using the fruit fly, Drosophila, where a specialized group of epithelial cells migrates through the egg chamber in a developmentally-controlled manner. In an RNAi-based screen for deubiquitinases, we identified non-stop (Drosophila USP22) as a gene required for border cell migration. Notably, we find that non- stop is required for the normal expression and distribution of Hippo signalling components; this leads to abnormal F-actin localisation at the cortex of migrating clusters and premature tumbling of the border cell cluster. Taken together, our results uncover novel roles for non-stop/USP22 in Hippo-mediated collective cell migration, which may help guide studies in more complex organisms where USP22 has been implicated in cell motility and invasion.