Homeotic function of Drosophila Bithorax-complex miRNAs mediates fertility by restricting multiple Hox genes and TALE cofactors in the CNS.

ABSTRACT: The Drosophila Bithorax complex (BX-C) Hox cluster contains a bidirectionally transcribed miRNA locus, and a deletion mutant (Δmir) lays no eggs and is completely sterile. We show these miRNAs are expressed and active in distinct spatial registers along the anterior-posterior axis in the CNS. Δmir larvae derepress a network of direct homeobox gene targets in the posterior ventral nerve cord (VNC), including BX-C genes and their TALE cofactors. These are phenotypically critical targets, because sterility of Δmir mutants was substantially rescued by heterozygosity of these genes. The posterior VNC contains Ilp7+ oviduct motoneurons, whose innervation and morphology are defective in Δmir females, and substantially rescued by heterozygosity of Δmir targets, especially within the BX-C. Collecti

SUBMITTER: Garaulet DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4111139 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature