title: High-resolution gene expression data from blastoderm embryos of the scuttle fly Megaselia abdita.
abstract: Gap genes are involved in segment determination during early development in dipteran insects (flies, midges, and mosquitoes). We carried out a systematic quantitative comparative analysis of the gap gene network across different dipteran species. Our work provides mechanistic insights into the evolution of this pattern-forming network. As a central component of our project, we created a high-resolution quantitative spatio-temporal data set of gap and maternal co-ordinate gene expression in the blastoderm embryo of the non-drosophilid scuttle fly, Megaselia abdita. Our data include expression patterns in both wild-type and RNAi-treated embryos. The data-covering 10 genes, 10 time points, and over 1,000 individual embryos-consist of original embryo images, quantified expression profiles, extracted positions of expression boundaries, and integrated expression patterns, plus metadata and intermediate processing steps. These data provide a valuable resource for researchers interested in the comparative study of gene regulatory networks and pattern formation, an essential step towards a more quantitative and mechanistic understanding of developmental evolution.
authors.affiliation: EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) , 08003 Barcelona, Spain ; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) , 08002 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Karl R
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8672-9948
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Wotton
authors.affiliation: EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) , 08003 Barcelona, Spain ; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) , 08002 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Guri
authors.affiliation: EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) , 08003 Barcelona, Spain ; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) , 08002 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crombach
authors.affiliation: EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) , 08003 Barcelona, Spain ; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) , 08002 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Damjan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cicin-Sain
authors.affiliation: EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) , 08003 Barcelona, Spain ; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) , 08002 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaeger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001756:Blastoderm / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D004175:Diptera / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017344:Genes, Insect