Project description:Multiple cell types can be specified from a single pool of progenitors through the combinatorial activity of transcriptional regulators, which activate distinct developmental programs to establish different cell fates. The zinc finger transcription factor Glass is required for neuronal progenitors in the Drosophila eye imaginal disc to acquire a photoreceptor identity. Glass is also expressed in non-neuronal cone and pigment cells, but its role in these cells is unknown. To examine how Glass activity is affected by the cellular context, we misexpressed it in different tissues. When expressed in neuroblasts of the larval brain or in epithelial cells of the wing disc, Glass activated both a common core set of target genes and distinct gene sets specific to each tissue. In addition to photoreceptor-specific genes, Glass induced markers of cone and pigment cells. Cell type-specific glass mutations generated in cone or pigment cells using somatic CRISPR revealed autonomous developmental defects, and expressing Glass specifically in these cells partially rescued glass mutant phenotypes. Glass thus acts in both neuronal and non-neuronal cells to promote their differentiation into functional components of the eye, suggesting that it is a determinant of organ identity.
Project description:The aim of this data set is to perform a differential expression analysis between wild type eye-antennal imaginal disc and discs that are homozygous glass mutant gl[60j]. This data set is used to validate Glass target gene predictions identified by i-cisTarget on a set of conserved eye-specific genes.
Project description:The aim of this study is to identify a set of eye-specific genes across Drosophila species. Species are used as replicates to remove biological noise and identify a core set of conserved eye-developmental genes. We analyze this conserved core using the motif discovery tool i-cisTarget, and identify master regulators of retinal determination, including the Zinc Finger transcription factor Glass.
Project description:The aim of this data set is to perform a differential expression analysis between wild type eye-antennal imaginal disc and discs that are homozygous glass mutant gl[60j]. This data set is used to validate Glass target gene predictions identified by i-cisTarget on a set of conserved eye-specific genes. RNA-seq was performed in eye-antennal imaginal discs of two D.melanogaster wild-type strains (Canton S and strain RAL-208 (Jordan et al. 2007, Ayroles et al. 2009)), representing two biological replicates; and in glass mutant (gl[60j]) discs for two technical replicates.
Project description:In this study we use Tag-sequencing in eye-antennal and wing imaginal discs across Drosophila species to determine a set of conserved eye-specific developmental genes. Next, we perform motif discovery analysis using the tool i-cisTarget, to depict the core gene developmental network underlying compound eye photoreceptor. The Glass position weight matrix appears as the most highly overrepresented motif, thus positioning Glass as a master regulator in compound eye photoreceptor development. Differential gene expression analysis by RNA-seq in D.melanogaster wild-type eye-antennal versus glass mutant [gl 60j] shows that the majority of our predicted Glass targets show strong downregulation in the glass mutant. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
