Role of the smallish gene during Drosophila eye development

Smallish (Smash), the Drosophila homologue of human LIM domain only 7 (LMO7), is a key regulator of Drosophila embryogenesis associated with planner cell polarity and actomyosin contractility at the zonula adherence. Although smash mRNA is expressed in several tissues during Drosophila development, only Smash function at the adherence junction in the embryonic epithelial cells has been reported. We herein demonstrated that the knockdown of smash in eye imaginal discs induced morphological aberrations in adult compound eyes that were associated with increased apoptosis. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analyses revealed that Smash localized to the nucleus in several tissues, including eye imaginal discs. The knockdown of smash in eye imaginal discs down-regulated the expression of the ote and bocks genes as well as the Drosophila homologue of the emerin gene, which is a target of LMO7. Collectively, these results indicate that Smash functions in proper Drosophila eye development mediated by the regulation of ote and bocks gene expression.