Function of the spalt/spalt-related gene complex in positioning the veins in the Drosophila wing

被引：81

作者：

de Celis, JF

Barrio, R

机构：

[1] European Mol Biol Lab, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany

[2] Univ Cambridge, Dept Genet, Cambridge CB2 3EH, England

来源：

MECHANISMS OF DEVELOPMENT | 2000年 / 91卷 / 1-2期

基金：

英国惠康基金;

关键词：

spalt; vein; iroquois; knirps;

D O I：

10.1016/S0925-4773(99)00261-0

中图分类号：

Q [生物科学];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

Spalt and Spalt-related encode conserved Zn-finger proteins that mediate the function of the TGF-beta molecule Decapentaplegic during the positioning of veins in the Drosophila wing. Here we show that Spalt and Spalt-related regulate the vein-specific expression of the transcription factors of the knirps and iroquois gene complexes, delimiting their domains of expression in the wing pouch. The effects of spalt/spalt-related mutations on knirps and iroquois expression are cell-autonomous, suggesting that they could be direct. The regulation of iroquois involves transcriptional repression by Spalt and Spalt-related, whereas the regulation of knirps involves a combination of transcriptional activation and repression mediated by the same genes. We suggest that the regulation of the iroquois and knirps gene complexes by Spalt and Spalt-related translates the Decapentaplegic morphogenetic gradient into precisely spaced pattern elements. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

引用

页码：31 / 41

页数：11

共 44 条

[1] The spalt-related gene of Drosophila melanogaster is a member of an ancient gene family, defined by the adjacent, region-specific homeotic gene spalt [J].