title: Comparison of bicoid-dependent regulation of hunchback between Musca domestica and Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Co-evolution between developmental regulatory elements is an important mechanism of evolution. This work compares the hunchback-bicoid interaction in the housefly Musca domestica with Drosophila melanogaster. The Musca HUNCHBACK protein is 66% conserved and partially rescues a hunchback mutant, yet the BICOID-dependent promoter (P2) of Musca hunchback is unexpectedly diverged from D. melanogaster. Introduced into D. melanogaster, this promoter drives a normal P2 pattern during the syncytial blastoderm stage but is expressed ectopically at the anterior pole of the embryo at later stages. We also report differences in the early expression of hunchback in Musca. We suggest that conservation of the morphogenetic function of bicoid in different sized embryos of higher diptera requires co-evolution of bicoid and its target binding sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonneton
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fazakerley
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dover
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006793:Houseflies / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C056478:bcd protein, Drosophila; C061245:hb protein, Drosophila