title: Dampened regulates the activating potency of Bicoid and the embryonic patterning outcome in Drosophila.
abstract: The Drosophila morphogen gradient of Bicoid (Bcd) initiates anterior-posterior (AP) patterning; however, it is poorly understood how its ability to activate a target gene may have an impact on this process. Here we report an F-box protein, Dampened (Dmpd) as a nuclear cofactor of Bcd that can enhance its activating potency. We establish a quantitative platform to specifically investigate two parameters of a Bcd target gene response, expression amplitude and boundary position. We show that embryos lacking Dmpd have a reduced amplitude of Bcd-activated hunchback (hb) expression at a critical time of development. This is because of a reduced Bcd-dependent transcribing probability. This defect is faithfully propagated further downstream of the AP-patterning network to alter the spatial characteristics of even-skipped (eve) stripes. Thus, unlike another Bcd-interacting F-box protein Fate-shifted (Fsd), which controls AP patterning through regulating the Bcd gradient profile, Dmpd achieves its patterning role through regulating the activating potency of Bcd.
authors: Division of Biomedical Informatics, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.
authors: Junbo
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: 1] Division of Biomedical Informatics, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA [2] Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Ma
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D044783:F-Box Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C000589234:Dmpd protein, Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D044783:F-Box Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; C056478:bcd protein, Drosophila; C556126:fsd protein, Drosophila