Ancestral Notch-mediated segmentation revealed in the cockroach Periplaneta americana.

ABSTRACT: Through division into segments, animal bodies can reach higher degrees of complexity and functionality during development and evolution. The segmentation mechanisms of insects and vertebrates have been seen as fundamentally different at the anatomical and molecular levels, and consequently, independently evolved. However, this conclusion was mostly based on observations of derived insects such as Drosophila. We have cloned the Delta, Notch, and hairy genes in the cockroach Periplaneta americana, a basal insect with short germ-band development, and carried out functional assays of Notch activity during its segmentation. Our results show that, in more basal insects, segmentation involves a similar developmental mechanism to that in vertebrates, including induction of segment formation by cyc

SUBMITTER: Pueyo JI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2568983 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature