Maternal Co-ordinate Gene Regulation and Axis Polarity in the Scuttle Fly

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The basic head-to-tail polarity of an animal is established very early in development. In dipteran insects (flies, midges, and mosquitoes), polarity is established with the help of so-called morphogen gradients. Morphogens are regulatory proteins that are distributed as a concentration gradient, often involving diffusion from a localised source. This graded distribution then leads to the concentration-dependent activation of different target genes along the embryo’s axis. We examine this process, which differs to a surprising extent between dipteran species, in the scuttle fly Megaselia abdita, and compare our results to the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. In this way, we not only gain insights into how the mechanisms that establish polarity function differently in different species, but also how the system has evolved since these two flies shared a common ancestor. Specifically, we pin down the main difference between Drosophila and Megaselia in the altered function of the maternal Hunchback morphogen gradient, which activates target genes in the former, but not the latter species, where it has been completely replaced by the Bicoid morphogen during evolution.

Vyšlo v časopise: Maternal Co-ordinate Gene Regulation and Axis Polarity in the Scuttle Fly. PLoS Genet 11(3): e32767. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005042
Kategorie: Research Article
prolekare.web.journal.doi_sk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005042

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