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Updated: May 25, 2026

Dissection and Immunostaining of Imaginal Discs from Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: September 20, 2014
[Basonuclins and DISCO proteins: regulators of development in vertebrates and insects]
Françoise Hervé1, Amandine Vanhoutteghem, Philippe Djian
1Unité de Régulation de la Transcription et Maladies Génétiques, CNRS et Université Paris Descartes, 45, rue des Saints-Pères, 75006 Paris, France.
Abstract:
Basonuclins 1 and 2 are nuclear proteins specific to vertebrates. They have recently been shown to be the orthologs of the DISCO proteins of insects. All of these proteins have an essential function in embryonic development. It is likely that they are transcription factors with multiple gene targets, some of which are transcribed by DNA polymerase I, and others by polymerase II. It remains to be found which targets are common to the two basonuclins and even to the DISCO proteins, and why certain cell types possess either basonuclin 1 or basonuclin 2, while others possess both. The implication of the basonuclins in several human diseases adds to their interest as regulatory proteins.
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