An antennal-specific role for bowl in repressing supernumerary appendage development in Drosophila.
In Drosophila, antennae and legs are serially homologous appendages, and yet they develop into organs of very different structure and function. This implies that different genetic mechanisms operate onto a common developmental ground state to produce antennae and legs. Still few such mechanisms have been uncovered. During leg development, bowl, a member of the odd-skipped gene family, has been shown to participate in the formation of the leg segmental joints. Here we report that, in the antennal disc, bowl has a dramatically different role: bowl is expressed in the ventral antennal disc to prevent inappropriate expression of wg early during development. The removal of bowl function leads to the activation of wg in the dpp-expressing domain. This ectopic expression of wg, together with dpp, results in a new proximo-distal axis that promotes non-autonomous antennal duplications. The role of bowl in suppressing a supernumerary PD axis is maintained even when the antennal disc is homeotically transformed into a leg-like appendage. Therefore, bowl is part of a genetic program that suppresses the formation of supernumerary appendages specifically in the fly's head.
Brás-Pereira
Catarina
C
Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, CSIC-Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla 41013, Spain.
Casares
Fernando
F
D000825:Animal Structures / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002999:Clone Cells; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009928:Organ Specificity; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051155:Wnt1 Protein / Q000378:metabolism
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C100532:bowl protein, Drosophila; C064196:dpp protein, Drosophila; C410902:lin protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila