title: A wingless-dependent polar coordinate system in Drosophila imaginal discs.
abstract: The patterning of the imaginal discs in Drosophila melanogaster is a progressive process that, like the patterning of the larval epidermis during embryogenesis, requires the activity of segment polarity genes. One segment polarity gene, wingless, encodes a homolog of the mouse proto-oncogene Wnt-1 and plays a prominent role in the patterning of the larval epidermis and the imaginal discs. However, whereas the function of wingless in the embryo is initially associated with a pattern of stripes along the anteroposterior axis that are part of a Cartesian coordinate system, it is shown here that during imaginal development wingless is associated with a pattern of sectors that provide references for a polar coordinate system homologous to that postulated in a well-known model for the regeneration of insect and vertebrate limbs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Couso
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bate
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-Arias
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression; D007814:Larva; D051379:Mice; D010641:Phenotype; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014921:Wings, Animal; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C495246:Wnt1 protein, mouse; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D001616:beta-Galactosidase