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Tarsus determination in Drosophila melanogaster
Anthony Percival-Smith1, Wendy A Teft, Jodi Lynn Barta
1Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. aperciva@uwo.ca
Genome
|August 12, 2005
Summary
Antennapedia (ANTP) does not autonomously determine Drosophila tarsus identity. Proboscipedia (PB) inhibits other HOX proteins, suggesting tarsus determination may be HOX-independent.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Genetics
- Entomology
Background:
- The determination of arista versus tarsus identity in Drosophila is a key developmental process.
- The roles of Antennapedia (ANTP) in cell autonomous or non-cell autonomous determination and Sex combs reduced (SCR) as a required HOX protein remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the cell-autonomous role of ANTP in Drosophila tarsus determination.
- To determine if SCR is the essential HOX protein for normal tarsus development.
Main Methods:
- Clonal ectopic overexpression of ANTP and other HOX genes (LAB, DFD, SCR, UBX, ABD-A, ABD-B) in antennal imaginal discs.
- Analysis of Homothorax (HTH) and Extradenticle (EXD) activity repression.
- Investigating the effect of Proboscipedia (PB) co-expression on HOX-induced transformations.
Main Results:
- Ectopic ANTP overexpression did not repress HTH or cause arista-to-tarsus transformations, ruling out a cell-autonomous role for ANTP.
- Non-cell autonomous repression of HTH/EXD activity and arista-to-tarsus transformations were observed upon ectopic expression of multiple HOX genes.
- Co-expression of PB inhibited HOX-induced transformations, indicating SCR is not the sole target of PB suppression.
Conclusions:
- ANTP functions non-cell autonomously in repressing HTH/EXD activity during tarsus determination.
- The findings challenge the requirement of SCR as the sole HOX protein for tarsus determination.
- Drosophila tarsus determination may be independent of specific HOX protein interactions.