Dorsoventral pattern formation in Drosophila: signal transduction and nuclear targeting.
The maternal determinants of dorsoventral polarity of the Drosophila embryo are derived from somatic and germ-line components of the egg chamber. During oogenesis, asymmetry seems to be established by a signal transduction process. This process is thought to provide the developing embryo with a ventral signal responsible for determining the embryonic axis. Through a set of interactions that may involve signal transduction and proteolytic cascade events, positional information is generated in the form of a graded distribution of dorsal protein in blastoderm nuclei. Different levels of dorsal protein result in asymmetric expression of zygotic genes that ultimately specify cell fate.
Govind
S
S
Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, NJ 08544.
Steward
R
R
D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics