title: Pumilio is essential for function but not for distribution of the Drosophila abdominal determinant Nanos.
abstract: The Drosophila gene pumilio is expressed maternally, and its function is essential during early embryogenesis for the formation of abdominal segments. Our molecular analysis reveals that pumilio is a large gene that encodes a protein of 160 kD whose RNA is enriched at the posterior pole of the egg. As with pumilio, the maternal effect gene nanos is specifically required for abdomen formation. The Nanos protein is expressed in a posterior-to-anterior concentration gradient in the developing embryo. Previous experiments demonstrated a genetic interaction between pumilio and nanos, and led to the suggestion that pumilio is required for the proper spatial distribution of the Nanos protein. Here, we show that the expression and distribution of nanos RNA and protein in embryos derived from pumilio mutant females are indistinguishable from wild type. We conclude that abdomen formation depends both on Nanos activity, spreading from the localized posterior source, and on Pumilio activity, present throughout the embryo.
authors.affiliation: Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02142.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Dickinson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lehmann
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000196:embryology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D007301:Insect Hormones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007438:Introns; D007605:Juvenile Hormones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007301:Insect Hormones; D007605:Juvenile Hormones; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C061245:hb protein, Drosophila; C074333:pum protein, Drosophila; C070574:nos protein, Drosophila; D004247:DNA