Drumstick is a zinc finger protein that antagonizes Lines to control patterning and morphogenesis of the Drosophila hindgut.
Elongation of the Drosophila embryonic hindgut epithelium occurs by a process of oriented cell rearrangement requiring the genes drumstick (drm) and lines (lin). The elongating hindgut becomes subdivided into domains -- small intestine, large intestine and rectum -- each characterized by a specific pattern of gene expression dependent upon normal drm and lin function. We show that drm encodes an 81 amino acid (10 kDa) zinc finger protein that is a member of the Odd-skipped family. drm expression is localized to the developing midgut-hindgut junction and is required to establish the small intestine, while lin is broadly expressed throughout the gut primordium and represses small intestine fate. lin is epistatic to drm, suggesting a model in which localized expression of drm blocks lin activity, thereby allowing small intestine fate to be established. Further supporting this model, ectopic expression of Drm throughout the hindgut produces a lin phenotype. Biochemical and genetic data indicate that the first conserved zinc finger of Drm is essential for its function. We have thus defined a pathway in which a spatially localized zinc finger protein antagonizes a globally expressed protein, thereby leading to specification of a domain (the small intestine) necessary for oriented cell rearrangement.
Molecular Biology Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA.
Ryan B
RB
Green
Victor
V
Hatini
Katherine A
KA
Johansen
Xue-Jun
XJ
Liu
Judith A
JA
Lengyel
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004064:Digestive System / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics*
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C465762:drm protein, Drosophila; C410902:lin protein, Drosophila