Cell fate changes induced by a Distal-less enhancer-trap transgene in the Drosophila antennal imaginal disc.

ABSTRACT: The imaginal discs of the genetically tractable model organism Drosophila melanogaster have been used to study cell-fate specification and plasticity, including homeotic changes and regeneration-induced transdetermination. The identity of the reprogramming mechanisms that induce plasticity has been of great interest in the field. Here we identify a change from antennal fate to eye fate induced by a Distal-less-GAL4 (DllGAL4) P-element insertion that is a mutant allele of Dll and expresses GAL4 in the antennal imaginal disc. While this fate change is not induced by tissue damage, it appears to be a hybrid of transdetermination and homeosis as the GAL4 expression causes upregulation of Wingless, and the Dll mutation is required for the fate change. Neither GAL4 expression nor a Dll mutation

SUBMITTER: Abidi SNF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5862905 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature