EGF receptor and Notch signaling act upstream of Eyeless/Pax6 to control eye specification.
The Drosophila compound eye is specified by the concerted action of seven nuclear factors that include Eyeless/Pax6. These factors have been called "master control" proteins because loss-of-function mutants lack eyes and ectopic expression can direct ectopic eye development. However, inactivation of these genes does not cause the presumptive eye to change identity. Surprisingly, we find that several of these eye specification genes are not coexpressed in the same embryonic cells-or even in the presumptive eye. We demonstrate that the EGF Receptor and Notch signaling pathways have homeotic functions that are genetically upstream of the eye specification genes, and show that specification occurs much later than previously thought-not during embryonic development but in the second larval stage.
Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1648 Pierce Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
J P
JP
Kumar
K
K
Moses
D000825:Animal Structures / Q000196:embryology; D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology; D005136:Eye Proteins; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005136:Eye Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C497759:N protein, Drosophila; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C113278:ey protein, Drosophila; D066246:ErbB Receptors