Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2026

An Efficient Strategy for Generating Tissue-specific Binary Transcription Systems in Drosophila by Genome Editing
Published on: September 19, 2018
A unique Extradenticle recruitment mode in the Drosophila Hox protein Ultrabithorax
Samir Merabet1, Mehdi Saadaoui, Nagraj Sambrani
1Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille Luminy, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de la Méditerranée, Parc Scientifique de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France. merabet@ibdm.univ-mrs.fr
Abstract:
Hox transcription factors are essential for shaping body morphology in development and evolution. The control of Hox protein activity in part arises from interaction with the PBC class of partners, pre-B cell transcription factor (Pbx) proteins in vertebrates and Extradenticle (Exd) in Drosophila. Characterized interactions occur through a single mode, involving a short hexapeptide motif in the Hox protein. This apparent uniqueness in Hox-PBC interaction provides little mechanistic insight in how the same cofactors endow Hox proteins with specific and diverse activities. Here, we identify in the Drosophila Ultrabithorax (Ubx) protein a short motif responsible for an alternative mode of Exd recruitment. Together with previous reports, this finding highlights that the Hox protein Ubx has multiple ways to interact with the Exd cofactor and suggests that flexibility in Hox-PBC contacts contributes to specify and diversify Hox protein function.
Related Concept Videos
The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes
Normal male Drosophila has a ratio of one X chromosome to two sets of autosomes. In contrast, normal female Drosophila...
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...
Position-effect Variegation
Polytene Chromosomes
Hedgehog Signaling Pathway

