Human Hox-4.2 and Drosophila deformed encode similar regulatory specificities in Drosophila embryos and larvae.
Within the serial array of vertebrate homeobox genes in the Hox complexes, it is possible to define a subgroup that is structurally homologous to the Drosophila homeotic gene Deformed (Dfd). We wished to test whether a vertebrate Dfd-like protein could substitute for any of the regulatory functions of the Dfd protein in Drosophila embryos, including its ability to transcriptionally activate the Dfd transcription unit. A fusion gene consisting of a heat shock promoter attached to the human Hox-4.2 gene was introduced into the Drosophila genome, and its regulatory and developmental effects were assayed after heat shock. In developing embryonic and larval cells, we find that human Hox-4.2 specifically activates ectopic expression of the endogeneous Dfd transcription unit and phenocopies a dominant mutant allele of Dfd. Thus, human Hox-4.2 can specifically substitute for a normal regulatory function of its Drosophila homolog, Dfd.
McGinnis
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N
Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.
Kuziora
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MA
McGinnis
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W
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D004330:Drosophila / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000502:physiology; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007814:Larva; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C066676:Dfd protein, Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins