From organ selector to cell behavior regulator

This is an open-access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.One of the main contributions of Drosophila to the JAK-STAT field is the study of morphogenesis. JAK-STAT signaling controls the formation of many different structures through surprisingly different morphogenetic behaviors that include induction of cell rearrangements, invagination, folding of tissues, modulation of cell shape, and migration. This variability may be explained by the many transcription factors and signaling molecules STAT regulates at early stages of development. But is STAT just acting as an upstream inducer of morphogenesis or does it have a more direct role in controlling cell behaviors? Here we review what is known about how the canonical phosphorylation of STAT contributes to shaping the embryonic and imaginal structures.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Investigación Ciencia e Innovación, Consolider, the European Regional Development Fund, and Junta de Andalucía.Peer reviewe