The Dichaete gene of Drosophila melanogaster encodes a SOX-domain protein required for embryonic segmentation

We have cloned and characterised a member of the High Mobility Group superfamily of genes from Drosophila, Sox70D, which is closely related to the mammalian testis determining gene SRY. Sox70D corresponds to the dominant wing mutation Dichaete. Homozygous deletions of the Sox70D gene and recessive lethal Dichaete alleles have a variable embryonic segmentation phenotype. Dichaete is expressed in early embryos in a dynamic pattern reminiscent of gap and pair-rule genes and is required for the appropriate expression of the primary pair-rule genes even skipped, hairy and runt. The molecular nature of Dichaete and its expression pattern during early embryogenesis suggest that the gene plays a key role in early development; the variability in both the segmentation phenotype and the effects on pair-rule gene expression suggests that this role is to support the transcriptional regulation of key developmental genes rather than directly regulate any one of them.