Stereotypic founder cell patterning and embryonic muscle formation in Drosophila require nautilus (MyoD) gene function.

ABSTRACT: nautilus is the only MyoD-related gene in Drosophila. Nautilus expression begins around stage 9 at full germ-band extension in a subset of mesodermal cells organized in a stereotypic pattern in each hemisegment. The muscle founder cell marker Duf-LacZ, produced by the enhancer trap line rP298LacZ, is coexpressed in numerous Nautilus-positive cells when founders first appear. Founders entrain muscle identity through the restricted expression of transcription factors such as S59, eve, and Kr, all of which are observed in subsets of the nautilus expressing founders. We inactivated the nautilus gene using homology-directed gene targeting and Gal4/UAS regulated RNAi to determine whether loss of nautilus gene activity affected founder cell function. Both methods produced a range of defects that

SUBMITTER: Wei Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1838484 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature