Isolation, structure, and expression of labial, a homeotic gene of the Antennapedia Complex involved in Drosophila head development.
The labial (lab) gene of Drosophila melanogaster is necessary for the proper development of the embryonic (larval) and adult head. We have identified the lab transcription unit within the proximal portion of the Antennapedia Complex (ANT-C) by mapping the molecular lesions associated with chromosomally rearranged lab alleles. We present its molecular structure, nucleotide sequence, and temporal pattern of expression. In addition, using antibodies generated against a fusion protein, we show that in the embryo the lab protein is distributed in neural and epidermal cells of the procephalic lobe; in a discrete loop of the midgut; and in specific progenitor sensory cells of the clypeolabrum, thoracic segments, and tail region. The regions of lab expression in the developing cephalon represent nonsegmented domains that are anterior to and largely nonoverlapping with the domains of expression of the Deformed (Dfd) and proboscipedia (pb) genes, two other homeotic loci of the ANT-C that also function to direct the development of head structures. Furthermore, lab head expression is associated with the complex cellular movements of head involution, a process that not only is defective in lab embryos, but the failure of which appears to be largely responsible for the defects observed in mutant embryos. Finally, we suggest that lab head expression provides a molecular marker for an intercalary segment, an ancestral segment that has become morphologically indistinct during the evolution of the insect head.
Diederich
R J
RJ
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405.
Merrill
V K
VK
Pultz
M A
MA
Kaufman
T C
TC
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D006257:Head / Q000196:embryology; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007301:Insect Hormones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009154:Mutation; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D012093:Replicon
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D007301:Insect Hormones; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C059843:lab protein, Drosophila