Conserved role for the Dachshund protein with Drosophila Pax6 homolog Eyeless in insulin expression.

ABSTRACT: Members of the insulin family peptides have conserved roles in the regulation of growth and metabolism in a wide variety of metazoans. The Drosophila genome encodes seven insulin-like peptide genes, dilp1-7, and the most prominent dilps (dilp2, dilp3, and dilp5) are expressed in brain neurosecretory cells known as "insulin-producing cells" (IPCs). Although these dilps are expressed in the same cells, the expression of each dilp is regulated independently. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate the expression of individual dilps in the IPCs remain largely unknown. Here, we show that Dachshund (Dac), which is a highly conserved nuclear protein, is a critical transcription factor that specifically regulates dilp5 expression. Dac was strongly expressed in IPCs throughout development.

SUBMITTER: Okamoto N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3289324 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature