A gene expression atlas of a bicoid-depleted Drosophila embryo reveals early canalization of cell fate.

ABSTRACT: In developing embryos, gene regulatory networks drive cells towards discrete terminal fates, a process called canalization. We studied the behavior of the anterior-posterior segmentation network in Drosophila melanogaster embryos by depleting a key maternal input, bicoid (bcd), and measuring gene expression patterns of the network at cellular resolution. This method results in a gene expression atlas containing the levels of mRNA or protein expression of 13 core patterning genes over six time points for every cell of the blastoderm embryo. This is the first cellular resolution dataset of a genetically perturbed Drosophila embryo that captures all cells in 3D. We describe the technical developments required to build this atlas and how the method can be employed and extended by others. We al

SUBMITTER: Staller MV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4302997 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature