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Separable regulatory elements mediate the establishment and maintenance of cell states by the Drosophila segment‐polarity gene gooseberry.
Author(s) -
Li X.,
Gutjahr T.,
Noll M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05786.x
Subject(s) - biology , polarity (international relations) , drosophila (subgenus) , gene , cell polarity , drosophila melanogaster , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , regulation of gene expression , drosophilidae , regulator gene , evolutionary biology , computational biology , cell
During Drosophila embryogenesis, position along the anteroposterior axis is specified within each segment by the products of the segment‐polarity genes which include wingless (wg) and gooseberry (gsb). The striped expression of these genes in each segment is initially established by the pair‐rule gene products during late blastoderm. This pattern is subsequently maintained after germ band extension by interaction among the segment‐polarity genes themselves. Here we show that the maintenance of gsb, a PHox gene encoding a paired‐domain and a homeodomain, is controlled by the wg signal, the homolog of the murine Wnt‐1 protein. A control element responsible for wg‐dependent maintenance of gsb expression, gsb‐late element, is separable from an element required for the initial activation of gsb by pair‐rule transcription factors, gsb‐early element. The significance of such a regulatory strategy is discussed with respect to the establishment and maintenance of cell states within each segment by segment‐polarity genes.