Spacing differentiation in the developing Drosophila eye: a fibrinogen-related lateral inhibitor encoded by scabrous.
In the development of multicellular organisms a diversity of cell types differentiate at specific positions. Spacing patterns, in which an array of two or more cell types forms from a uniform field of cells, are a common feature of development. Identical precursor cells may adopt different fates because of competition and inhibition between them. Such a pattern in the developing Drosophila eye is the evenly spaced array of R8 cells, around which other cell types are subsequently recruited. Genetic studies suggest that the scabrous mutation disrupts a signal produced by R8 cells that inhibits other cells from also becoming R8 cells. The scabrous locus was cloned, and it appears to encode a secreted protein partly related to the beta and gamma chains of fibrinogen. It is proposed that the sca locus encodes a lateral inhibitor of R8 differentiation. The roles of the Drosophila EGF-receptor homologue (DER) and Notch genes in this process were also investigated.
Baker
N E
NE
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
Mlodzik
M
M
Rubin
G M
GM
D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004330:Drosophila / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics; D005123:Eye / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000235:genetics*; D006023:Glycoproteins; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009030:Mosaicism; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D011506:Proteins; C066579:sca protein, Drosophila; D005340:Fibrinogen; D066246:ErbB Receptors