title: RNA binding and translational suppression by bicoid.
abstract: The anterior determinant bicoid (bcd) of Drosophila is a homeodomain protein. It forms an anterior-to-posterior gradient in the embryo and activates, in a concentration-dependent manner, several zygotic segmentation genes during blastoderm formation. Its posterior counterpart, the homeodomain transcription factor caudal (cad), forms a concentration gradient in the opposite direction, emanating from evenly distributed messenger RNA in the egg. In embryos lacking bcd activity as a result of mutation, the cad gradient fails to form and cad becomes evenly distributed throughout the embryo. This suggests that bcd may act in the region-specific control of cad mRNA translation. Here we report that bcd binds through its homeodomain to cad mRNA in vitro, and exerts translational control through a bcd-binding region of cad mRNA.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Molekulare Entwicklungsbiologie, Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rivera-Pomar
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Niessing
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Ott
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Gehring
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jäckle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D017931:DNA Primers; D004175:Diptera; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007301:Insect Hormones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D007301:Insect Hormones; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C056478:bcd protein, Drosophila; C084564:cad protein, Drosophila