title: Persistence of Hunchback in the terminal region of the Drosophila blastoderm embryo impairs anterior development.
abstract: Anterior terminal development is controlled by several zygotic genes that are positively regulated at the anterior pole of Drosophila blastoderm embryos by the anterior (bicoid) and the terminal (torso) maternal determinants. Most Bicoid target genes, however, are first expressed at syncitial blastoderm as anterior caps, which retract from the anterior pole upon activation of Torso. To better understand the interaction between Bicoid and Torso, a derivative of the Gal4/UAS system was used to selectively express the best characterised Bicoid target gene, hunchback, at the anterior pole when its expression should be repressed by Torso. Persistence of hunchback at the pole mimics most of the torso phenotype and leads to repression at early stages of a labral (cap'n'collar) and two foregut (wingless and hedgehog) determinants that are positively controlled by bicoid and torso. These results uncovered an antagonism between hunchback and bicoid at the anterior pole, whereas the two genes are known to act in concert for most anterior segmented development. They suggest that the repression of hunchback by torso is required to prevent this antagonism and to promote anterior terminal development, depending mostly on bicoid activity.
authors.affiliation: LGPD, IBDM, Parc Scientifique de Luminy, Case 907, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Janody
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reischl
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dostatni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001756:Blastoderm / Q000502:physiology*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D051155:Wnt1 Protein
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C056478:bcd protein, Drosophila; C116463:cnc protein, Drosophila; C061245:hb protein, Drosophila; C093053:oc protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila; C077245:hh protein, Drosophila; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C080148:tor protein, Drosophila