The T-box transcription factor Midline regulates wing development by repressing wingless and hedgehog in Drosophila.
Wingless (Wg) and Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathways are key players in animal development. However, regulation of the expression of wg and hh are not well understood. Here, we show that Midline (Mid), an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor, expresses in the wing disc of Drosophila and plays a vital role in wing development. Loss or knock down of mid in the wing disc induced hyper-expression of wingless (wg) and yielded cocked and non-flat wings. Over-expression of mid in the wing disc markedly repressed the expression of wg, DE-Cadherin (DE-Cad) and armadillo (arm), and resulted in a small and blistered wing. In addition, a reduction in the dose of mid enhanced phenotypes of a gain-of-function mutant of hedgehog (hh). We also observed repression of hh upon overexpression of mid in the wing disc. Taken together, we propose that Mid regulates wing development by repressing wg and hh in Drosophila.
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, China.
Chong-Lei
CL
Fu
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, China.
Xian-Feng
XF
Wang
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, China.
Qian
Q
Cheng
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, China.
Dan
D
Wang
Department of Developmental Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
Susumu
S
Hirose
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, China.
Qing-Xin
QX
Liu
D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D038081:Organogenesis; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000196:embryology; D051155:Wnt1 Protein / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C495571:mid protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila; C077245:hh protein, Drosophila