title: Two Pax genes, eye gone and eyeless, act cooperatively in promoting Drosophila eye development.
abstract: We report the identification of a Drosophila Pax gene, eye gone (eyg), which is required for eye development. Loss-of-function eyg mutations cause reduction or absence of the eye. Similar to the Pax6 eyeless (ey) gene, ectopic expression of eyg induces extra eye formation, but at sites different from those induced by ey. Several lines of evidence suggest that eyg and ey act cooperatively: (1) eyg expression is not regulated by ey, nor does it regulate ey expression, (2) eyg-induced ectopic morphogenetic furrow formation does not require ey, nor does ey-induced ectopic eye production require eyg, (3) eyg and ey can partially substitute for the function of the other, and (4) coexpression of eyg and ey has a synergistic enhancement of ectopic eye formation. Our results also show that eyg has two major functions: to promote cell proliferation in the eye disc and to promote eye development through suppression of wg transcription.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 111, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chuen-Chuen
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Ju-Lan
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: Nikolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Li-Chin
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Dmitri A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bessarab
authors.forename: Yien M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Susie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Desplan
authors.forename: Steven K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Beckendorf
authors.forename: Y Henry
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D004628:Embryonic Structures / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017344:Genes, Insect; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D010641:Phenotype; D017956:Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D019076:Transgenes; D051155:Wnt1 Protein
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C113278:ey protein, Drosophila; C477040:eyg protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila