Coming to our senses.
Sensory organs are specialized to receive different kinds of input from the outside world. However, common features of their development suggest that they could have a shared evolutionary origin. In a recent paper, Niwa et al. show that three Drosophila adult sensory organs all rely on the spatial signals Decapentaplegic and Wingless to specify their position, and the temporal signal ecdysone to initiate their development. The proneural gene atonal is an important site for integration of these regulatory inputs. These results suggest the existence of a primitive sensory organ precursor, which would differentiate according to the identity of its segment of origin. The authors argue that the eyeless gene controls eye disc identity, indirectly producing an eye from the sensory organ precursor within this disc.
Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine and Department of Cell Biology, NYU School of Medicine, 540 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA. treisman@saturn.med.nyu.edu
Jessica E
JE
Treisman
D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D004440:Ecdysone / Q000378:metabolism; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D017956:Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012679:Sense Organs / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D051155:Wnt1 Protein
D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004440:Ecdysone; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C082142:ato protein, Drosophila; C064196:dpp protein, Drosophila; C113278:ey protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila