Rapid transcription fosters coordinate snail expression in the Drosophila embryo.
Transcription is commonly held to be a highly stochastic process, resulting in considerable heterogeneity of gene expression among the different cells in a population. Here, we employ quantitative in situ hybridization methods coupled with high-resolution imaging assays to measure the expression of snail, a developmental patterning gene necessary for coordinating the invagination of the mesoderm during gastrulation of the Drosophila embryo. Our measurements of steady-state mRNAs suggest that there is very little variation in snail expression across the different cells that make up the mesoderm and that synthesis approaches the kinetic limits of Pol II processivity. We propose that rapid transcription kinetics and negative autoregulation are responsible for the remarkable homogeneity of snail expression and the coordination of mesoderm invagination.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. boettiger@fas.harvard.edu
Alistair Nicol
AN
Boettiger
Michael
M
Levine
D000818:Animals; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007700:Kinetics; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; C000604451:sna protein, Drosophila