Regulation and function of the Drosophila segmentation gene fushi tarazu

Hiromi, Yasushi; Gehring, Walter

doi:10.1016/0092-8674(87)90523-x

Cited by 409 publications

(342 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…ond extending from the SmaI to SalI sites of lac2 from pMC1871 (Casadaban et al, 1983), and the third a 940 bp EcoRI fragment from pH250PL (Hiromi and Gehring, 1987) which provided the termination and poly-A addition signals of the Drosophila hsp70 gene. The 84.9-86.7 SacI/PstI fragment containing the dpp second intron (abbreviated as 85-87 in the text) and the 87.6-88.4 BalI/EcoRI 3'-end fragment of the E55 dpp cDNA were inserted in the SalI site between the lac2 and hsp70 sequences of P[dpp83-85, lac] to yield P[dpp83-87, lacl and P[dpp83-85, lac + 3'UTRl (see Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embryonic expression patterns of the drosophila decapentaplegic gene: Separate regulatory elements control blastoderm expression and lateral ectodermal expression

Jackson

Hoffmann

1994

Developmental Dynamics

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Patterns of decapentaplegic (dpp) transcripts derived from the intact gene were compared to the patterns of transcripts generated by partial dpp transgenes in Drosophila embryos. Sequences closest to the dpp coding regions, the dpp hin region, were sufficient to express ZacZ-tagged mRNA in patterns indistinguishable from the patterns of endogenous dpp expression in the dorsal and terminal cells at the blastoderm stage, in the dorsal ectoderm during germ band elongation, and in narrow stripes of ectodermal cells along the dorsal edge of the ectoderm and at the boundary between the lateral and ventral neurogenic regions during germ band shortening. The latter pattern of expression responded to the segment polarity genes naked and wingless. However, these dpp sequences were not sufficient to drive ZucZ-tagged mRNA expression in other cells normally expressing dpp, including cells in the gnathal segments, the clypeolabrum, the foregut, the midgut visceral mesoderm, and the hindgut. Two separate regulatory regions were found in the dpp hin region. A 479 bp region upstream of the promoter was necessary for the segmented pattern of expression in the lateral ectoderm and for expression in the midgut endoderm. Cis-acting elements in the 2 kbp second intron directed expression in the dorsal and terminal regions of the blastoderm, acted on a heterologous promoter, the P-element promoter, and responded to pattern information derived from the maternal effect dorsal/ventral patterning genes. 0 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embryonic expression patterns of the drosophila decapentaplegic gene: Separate regulatory elements control blastoderm expression and lateral ectodermal expression

Jackson

Hoffmann

1994

Developmental Dynamics

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“…Variable expression seen in the anterior (amg) and posterior (pmg) midgut primordia is not part of the normal en expression program. This expression may be due to sequences from en, or may be spurious, since expression from similar vectors in mesodermal and gut primordia has been reported 41 . b, c: Magnified (ventral) view of a doubly-labelled embryo (mouse anti -en and rabbit anti-β-gal) reveals expression of endogenous en (b) and of P(en/lac) (c), 4.5 h AEL.…”

Section: Separate Regulatory Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two-tiered regulation of spatially patterned engrailed gene expression during Drosophila embryogenesis

DiNardo

Sher

Heemskerk-Jongens

et al. 1988

Nature

382

189

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A regulatory cascade, initiated during the syncytial stage of embryogenesis, culminates in the striped pattern of engrailed gene expression at the cellular blastoderm stage. The early regulatory genes, for example the pair-rule genes, are expressed transiently and as their products decay a distinct regulatory programme involving segment polarity genes takes over. This late programme maintains and perhaps modifies the striped pattern of engrailed expression through interactions that may involve cell communication.An early step in the generation of the Drosophila body pattern is the determination of the segmental subdivisions of the embryo. This occurs quite rapidly. By the cellular blastoderm stage (2-2.5 h after fertilization) the segmental outlines of the embryo, although not morphologically visible, are represented by the precise expression patterns of the segmentation (or segment polarity) genes, such as engrailed 1,2 and wingless 3 . The subsequent activity of genes such as these directs the morphological events leading to segmentation 4,5 .The segmentation genes are expressed in their localized patterns as a consequence of an early regulatory cascade. Three gene classes (maternal genes 6 , and the zygotically acting gap and pair-rule genes 4 ) act in sequence, each establishing the more refined spatial expression pattern of the next 7-9 . This takes place in a syncytial cytoplasm and is thought to rely on the diffusion and interaction of regulatory products encoded by these genes. The subdivision of the embryonic field by this cascade is rapid, occurring during the first thirteen nuclear divisions. After the thirteenth division, the nuclei are cellularized and the cellular blastoderm is formed.One outcome of this regulatory hierarchy is the establishment of engrailed (en) expression at the cellular blastoderm stage in 14 single-cell-wide stripes transecting the antero-posterior axis of the embryo 1,2,10,22 . Previous work has shown that the activity of separate sets of pair-rule genes controls establishment of en expression in even-and in odd-numbered stripes 11,12 . The data presented here suggests further that the separate control of even-and odd-numbered stripes is reflected in the organization of the cis-regulatory sequences at en.During the post-cellular blastoderm phase of development the expression pattern of en is maintained and modified 1,10 . It is unlikely that the pair-rule genes are involved in the postblastoderm regulation of en, since the pair-rule genes characterized to date are only expressed transiently in their pair-rule blastoderm patterns [13][14][15][16]31 . Here we address the mechanism by which the en gene is regulated in later embryonic development.

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“…The enhancer activity of a DNA fragment from the ftz gene, a homoeodomaincontaining member of the pair-rule class of segmentation genes, suggested that the ftz gene product (ftz) activates its own expression in the embryo 18 . In a different approach a Drosophila tissue culture system was used to show that the Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene product induces expression of its own promoter, and inhibits the Antennapedia (Antp) (P1) promoter (M. Krasnow and D. S. Hogness, personal communication, see ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activation and repression of transcription by homoeodomain-containing proteins that bind a common site

Jaynes

O’Farrell

1988

Nature

223

148

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The product of the fushi tarazu (ftz) gene is shown to be a site-dependent activator of transcription. In vitro-defined binding sites act as ftz-dependent enhancers in cultured cells. Another homoeodomain-containing protein, the engrailed gene product, competes for homoeodomainbinding sites and counteracts ftz activation.GENETIC analysis in Drosophila melanogaster has identified a group of regulatory genes that participate in embryonic pattern formation 1,2 . Many of these genes encode a 60 amino-acid sequence, the homoeodomain, that is highly conserved through evolution [3][4][5] . This domain contains a putative helix-turn-helix motif 6 such as that found in a number of bacterial regulators 7 , and possesses a sequence-specific DNA-binding activity 8,9 . Numerous regulatory interactions occur among homoeodomain-encoding genes during development. For example, a combination of segmentation and homoeotic gene products, many of which contain homoeodomains 1 , specify the developmental fates of cells in striped patterns 10,11 . Furthermore, homoeodomain-containing proteins (homoeodomain proteins) regulate both each other 12 and downstream (`cytodifferentiation' 13 ) genes. Consequently, it has been attractive to think of homoeodomain proteins as direct regulators of transcription. Due to the complexity of cross-regulatory interactions however, mutations altering or eliminating one homoeodomain protein generally change the expression patterns of many other regulators, confounding efforts to distinguish direct from indirect regulation. Additionally, suspected target genes contain large cis-acting control regions that respond, directly or indirectly, to complex combinations of regulators [14][15][16][17] . As a result, identification of target genes directly regulated by homoeodomain proteins has been problematic.Previous studies have documented instances in which homoeodomain proteins control transcription. The enhancer activity of a DNA fragment from the ftz gene, a homoeodomaincontaining member of the pair-rule class of segmentation genes, suggested that the ftz gene product (ftz) activates its own expression in the embryo 18 . In a different approach a Drosophila tissue culture system was used to show that the Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene product induces expression of its own promoter, and inhibits the Antennapedia (Antp) (P1) promoter (M. Krasnow and D. S. Hogness, personal communication, see ref. 19 for summary). In these cases however, the complexity of the regulatory circuitry and of the responding control regions leaves open the possibility that the homoeodomain proteins produce these transcriptional effects through intermediaries. To circumvent the complexities of natural target genes, we chose to use binding sites identified in vitro to build homoeodomain-responsive promoters. We find that ftz is a potent activator of transcription from these promoters in cultured cells.During sequential subdivision of the Drosophila embryo to produce segmentally repeating patterns, combinations of regulatory gene prod...

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Regulation and function of the Drosophila segmentation gene fushi tarazu

Cited by 409 publications

References 57 publications

Embryonic expression patterns of the drosophila decapentaplegic gene: Separate regulatory elements control blastoderm expression and lateral ectodermal expression

Embryonic expression patterns of the drosophila decapentaplegic gene: Separate regulatory elements control blastoderm expression and lateral ectodermal expression

Two-tiered regulation of spatially patterned engrailed gene expression during Drosophila embryogenesis

Activation and repression of transcription by homoeodomain-containing proteins that bind a common site

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