Separable regulatory elements mediate the establishment and maintenance of cell states by the Drosophila segment-polarity gene gooseberry.
During Drosophila embryogenesis, position along the anteroposterior axis is specified within each segment by the products of the segment-polarity genes which include wingless (wg) and gooseberry (gsb). The striped expression of these genes in each segment is initially established by the pair-rule gene products during late blastoderm. This pattern is subsequently maintained after germ band extension by interaction among the segment-polarity genes themselves. Here we show that the maintenance of gsb, a PHox gene encoding a paired-domain and a homeodomain, is controlled by the wg signal, the homolog of the murine Wnt-1 protein. A control element responsible for wg-dependent maintenance of gsb expression, gsb-late element, is separable from an element required for the initial activation of gsb by pair-rule transcription factors, gsb-early element. The significance of such a regulatory strategy is discussed with respect to the establishment and maintenance of cell states within each segment by segment-polarity genes.
Li
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X
Institute for Molecular Biology II, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
Gutjahr
T
T
Noll
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M
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors