A mouse gene related to Distal-less shows a restricted expression in the developing forebrain

Abstract

Many genes known to be involved in embryogenesis and morphogenesis of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster encode proteins with a highly conserved region of 60 amino acids called the homeodomain. Mammalian counterparts for most of these genes have been identified, including those homologous to the Drosophila homeotic genes or to genes such as evenskipped, engrailed or caudal. We have isolated a murine homeobox gene that encodes a homeodomain similar to that encoded by the Drosophila Distalless (Dll) gene. Dll has a crucial role in Drosophila limb morphogenesis, partially specifying pattern along the proximo-distal axis of the limb. The murine counterpart is expressed in a restricted region of the developing brain, within the diencephalon and the adjacent telencephalic regions.

Cloning and Functional Characterization of Roaz, a Zinc Finger Protein that Interacts with O/E-1 to Regulate Gene Expression: Implications for Olfactory Neuronal Development

“…These observations suggest that, in addition to maintaining the cellular phenotype of terminally differentiated ORNs, O/ E proteins may have an additional role in the early stage of neuronal differentiation (Kudrycki et al, 1993). Similar dual functions also have been described in several other systems such as twist, distalless-2, and fushi tarazu (Price et al, 1991;Turner et al, 1994;Baylies and Bate, 1996;Spicer et al, 1996).…”

Dynamics of Cell Migration from the Lateral Ganglionic Eminence in the Rat

“…Strong calbindin-immunoreactive fibers appear to form a sharp limit between the pallial epithelium and the striatal anlage (Liu and Graybiel, 1992). In the same way, the cortico-striatal sulcus is delimited by the telencephalic expression of the Dlx homeotic gene (Bulfone et al, 1993), further evidence at the molecular level of the compartmentalization of this region (Price et al, 1991;Puelles and Rubenstein, 1993;Porteus et al, 1994;AlvarezBolado et al, 1995). Cells derived from the LGE of the rat embryo transplanted into the ST of adult rats developed exclusively striatal phenotypes (Deacon et al, 1994).…”

Gsh‐1: A novel murine homeobox gene expressed in the central nervous system

“…These dispersed homeobox genes may function in a combinatorial fashion to determine pattern formation in the neuromeric segmentation of the brain similar to the clustered Hox genes along the neural tube Stoykova and Gruss, 1994). The Dlx family members, for example, are expressed in intricate patterns in the forebrain, as well as in limbs, developing branchial arches, face, and eyes (Robinson et al, 1991;Porteus et al, 1991Price et al, 1991;Dolle et al, 1992;Bulfone et al, 1993). The Eux-1 and -2,0tx-1 and -2, and NK family of homeobox genes are also expressed in the developing forebrain (Dush and Martin, 1992;Saha et al, 1993;Simeone et al, 1993).…”

“…In general, it is found that there are several mammalian homologues of each dispersed Drosophila homeobox gene. Examples include the Dlx-1 and Dlx-2 Distal-less genes (Price et al, 1991;Robinson et al, 1991;Porteus et al, 1991Dolle et al, 1992), the En-1 and En-2 engrailed genes (Joyner and Martin, 1987), the msx-1, msx-2, and msx-3 genes (Hill et al, 1989;Robert et al, 1989;Davidson et al, 1991), and the cdx-1 and cdx-2 genes homologous to the Drosophila caudal gene (Duprey et al, 1988). These genes have expression patterns that distinguish them from the clustered Hox genes, with goosecoid, for example, expressed at the anterior end of the primitive streak during gastrulation (Blum et al, 1992).…”