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A possible flip‐flop genetic mechanism for reciprocal gene expression
Author(s) -
Chiusano Maria Luisa,
Di Giaimo Rossella,
Potenza Nicoletta,
Russo Giuseppina M.R.,
Geraci Giuseppe,
del Gaudio Rosanna
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.07.094
Subject(s) - drosophila melanogaster , mechanism (biology) , biology , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , reciprocal , genetics , gene expression , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology
Innexins are a family of transmembrane proteins involved in the formation of gap junctions, specific intercellular channels, in invertebrates. Analyses of the entire innexin family during Drosophila melanogaster embryonic development shows the occurrence of complex and specific patterns of expression of the different genes. Innexins inx ‐2 and inx ‐7, in general, do not appear to exhibit extensive co‐expression in different D. melanogaster cellular compartments. We propose here a new and robust mechanism, based on our analysis of the genomic organization of inx ‐2 and inx ‐7, that structurally justifies the reciprocal expression of genes.