Antagonistic action of Bicoid and the repressor Capicua determines the spatial limits of Drosophila head gene expression domains

Löhr, Ulrike; Chung, Ho‐Ryun; Beller, Mathias; Jäckle, Herbert

doi:10.1073/pnas.0910225106

Cited by 72 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…S3E in the supplementary material). Together, these results suggest that additional mechanisms, such as the terminal system (Lohr et al, 2009;Ochoa-Espinosa et al, 2009) and/or gene regulatory networks (Bergmann et al, 2007;Jaeger et al, 2004;Manu et al, 2009), work with Bcd to achieve the observed eve expression patterns [see also Keranen et al (Keranen et al, 2006) for pattern flow during embryogenesis].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Scaling of the Bicoid morphogen gradient by a volume-dependent production rate

et al. 2011

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SUMMARYAn important feature of development is the formation of patterns that are proportional to the overall size of the embryo. But how such proportionality, or scaling, is achieved mechanistically remains poorly understood. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether organisms utilize similar or distinct mechanisms to achieve scaling within a species and between species. Here we investigate within-species scaling mechanisms for anterior-posterior (A-P) patterning in Drosophila melanogaster, focusing specifically on the properties of the Bicoid (Bcd) morphogen gradient. Using embryos from lines artificially selected for large and small egg volume, we show that large embryos have higher nuclear Bcd concentrations in the anterior than small embryos. This anterior difference leads to scaling properties of the Bcd gradient profiles: in broad regions of the large and small embryos along the A-P axis, normalizing their positions to embryo length reduces the differences in both the nuclear Bcd concentrations and Bcd-encoded positional information. We further trace the origin of Bcd gradient scaling by showing directly that large embryos have more maternally deposited bcd mRNA than small embryos. Our results suggest a simple model for how within-species Bcd gradient scaling can be achieved. In this model, the Bcd production rate, which is dependent on the total number of bcd mRNA molecules in the anterior, is scaled with embryo volume.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Scaling of the Bicoid morphogen gradient by a volume-dependent production rate

et al. 2011

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“…[41][42][43][44] This model emphasizes the integration of maternal inputs of both the terminal system and the Bcd gradient; cross-regulation between the zygotic products of gap genes is also a hallmark feature of the proposed gene regulatory network models. 18,33,45,46 Understanding mechanistically how genes respond to distinct Bcd concentration thresholds remains an important and challenging problem.…”

Section: ©2 0 1 1 L a N D E S B I O S C I E N C E D O N O T D I S Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18,33,45,46 Understanding mechanistically how genes respond to distinct Bcd concentration thresholds remains an important and challenging problem. [41][42][43]47,48 Meanwhile, how hb is expressed in response to Bcd has attracted most extensive studies in the field. 9,22,23,[33][34][35]46,49,50 Unlike genes that are expressed near the head region, the hb expression boundary does not appear to be influenced strongly by the terminal system.…”

Section: ©2 0 1 1 L a N D E S B I O S C I E N C E D O N O T D I S Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphogen gradient formation and action

Liu

2011

Fly

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“…1A), 13 the relative levels of the activating input from Bcd and the repressive input from Cic are integrated on the level of the target gene enhancers to pattern the anterior. While Bcd levels are highest in the anterior and decrease toward the center, a reciprocal gradient of Cic activity is formed in the embryo by the action of Tor.…”

Section: Bicoidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13 We then monitored the expression of Bcd target genes to examine the effects of uniform Bcd. Under the premise that Bcd instructs nuclei in a concentration dependent fashion, we expected that those target genes activated by the level of Bcd present in the embryo would be uniformly expressed in the embryo or rather, that one concentration threshold of Bcd would elicit one response in all nuclei.…”

Section: Bicoidmentioning

confidence: 99%