Function of bicoid and hunchback homologs in the basal cyclorrhaphan fly Megaselia (Phoridae).

ABSTRACT: The Drosophila gene bicoid functions at the beginning of a gene cascade that specifies anterior structures in the embryo. Its transcripts are localized at the anterior pole of the oocyte, giving rise to a Bicoid protein gradient, which regulates the spatially restricted expression of target genes along the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo in a concentration-dependent manner. The morphogen function of Bicoid requires the coactivity of the zinc finger transcription factor Hunchback, which is expressed in a Bicoid-dependent fashion in the anterior half of the embryo. Whereas hunchback is conserved throughout insects, bicoid homologs are known only from cyclorrhaphan flies. Thus far, identification of hunchback and bicoid homologs rests only on sequence comparison. In this study, we used

SUBMITTER: Stauber M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC27111 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature