Linking pattern formation to cell-type specification: Dichaete and Ind directly repress achaete gene expression in the Drosophila CNS.

ABSTRACT: Mechanisms regulating CNS pattern formation and neural precursor formation are remarkably conserved between Drosophila and vertebrates. However, to date, few direct connections have been made between genes that pattern the early CNS and those that trigger neural precursor formation. Here, we use Drosophila to link directly the function of two evolutionarily conserved regulators of CNS pattern along the dorsoventral axis, the homeodomain protein Ind and the Sox-domain protein Dichaete, to the spatial regulation of the proneural gene achaete (ac) in the embryonic CNS. We identify a minimal achaete regulatory region that recapitulates half of the wild-type ac expression pattern in the CNS and find multiple putative Dichaete-, Ind-, and Vnd-binding sites within this region. Consensus Dichaete

SUBMITTER: Zhao G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1820672 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature