title: Analysis of twin of eyeless regulation during early embryogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: The Drosophila Pax6 homolog twin of eyeless (toy) is so far the first zygotically expressed gene involved in eye morphogenesis in Drosophila. The study of its expression during embryogenesis is therefore informative of the initial events of eye development in Drosophila. We have analyzed how the initial expression domain of toy at cellular blastoderm is regulated. We show that the three maternal patterning systems active in the cephalic region (the anterior, terminal and dorsal-ventral systems) cooperate with zygotically activated gap genes to shape the initial expression domain of toy. Whereas Bicoid, Dorsal and Torso signaling synergistically act as activators, Hunchback, Knirps and Decapentaplegic act as repressors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. Jorge.Blanco@unibas.ch
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: Walter J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Gehring
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001756:Blastoderm / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017344:Genes, Insect; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D009154:Mutation; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; C056478:bcd protein, Drosophila; C118464:toy protein, Drosophila