Shadow Enhancers Mediate Dynamic Shifts of Gap Gene Expression in the Drosophila Embryo.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila patterning genes often contain pairs of primary and shadow enhancers that possess overlapping activities [1-5]. It has been suggested that this regulatory "redundancy" helps ensure reliable activation of gene expression under stressful conditions such as increases in temperature [4, 5]. There is also evidence that shadow enhancers help produce sharp on/off boundaries of gene expression in response to small changes in the levels of regulatory factors, such as the maternal Bicoid gradient [6, 7]. Here, we use live-imaging methods to visualize the temporal dynamics of the gap genes Kruppel and knirps, which are essential for the patterning of the thorax and abdomen, respectively [8, 9]. Previous analyses of fixed embryos suggested anterior shifts of the Kruppel and knirps expressio

SUBMITTER: El-Sherif E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4957242 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature