A gain-of-function suppressor screen for genes involved in dorsal-ventral boundary formation in the Drosophila wing.
The Drosophila wing primordium is subdivided into a dorsal (D) and a ventral (V) compartment by the activity of the LIM-homeodomain protein Apterous in D cells. Cell interactions between D and V cells induce the activation of Notch at the DV boundary. Notch is required for the maintenance of the compartment boundary and the growth of the wing primordium. Beadex, a gain-of-function allele of dLMO, results in increased levels of dLMO protein, which interferes with the activity of Apterous and results in defects in DV axis formation. We performed a gain-of-function enhancer-promoter (EP) screen to search for suppressors of Beadex when overexpressed in D cells. We identified 53 lines corresponding to 35 genes. Loci encoding for micro-RNAs and proteins involved in chromatin organization, transcriptional control, and vesicle trafficking were characterized in the context of dLMO activity and DV boundary formation. Our results indicate that a gain-of-function genetic screen in a sensitized background, as opposed to classical loss-of-function-based screenings, is a very efficient way to identify redundant genes involved in a developmental process.
Bejarano
Fernando
F
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats and Institute for Research in Biomedicine, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Luque
Carlos M
CM
Herranz
Héctor
H
Sorrosal
Georgina
G
Rafel
Neus
N
Pham
Thu Thuy
TT
Milán
Marco
M
D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect; D016153:Genes, Suppressor; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D010641:Phenotype; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013489:Suppression, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D022161:Transport Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*
D002843:Chromatin; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D051880:Receptors, Notch