title: Requirement of teashirt (tsh) function during cell fate specification in developing head structures in Drosophila.
abstract: The homeotic gene teashirt (tsh) is known to regulate segmental identity of the trunk region of the Drosophila embryo. Here we report a requirement for tsh function in the development of adult head structures. Animals homozygous for a viable tsh allele or heterozygous for various embryonic recessive lethal alleles displayed miniaturized maxillary palps, a phenotype characteristically induced by dominant gain-of-function mutations of Antennapedia (Antp) homeotic gene. Animals transheterozygous for tsh and Antp mutations displayed an enhanced antenna-to-leg and a striking reduced-eye phenotype suggesting aggravated ANTP misexpression in eye-antennal discs of these animals. In agreement with this, in the developing eye-antennal discs of the tsh mutant animals a significant amount of ANTP protein was detected overlapping the domains where tsh is normally expressed. These results suggest that tsh specifies adult head segments by repressing Antp expression.
authors.affiliation: Drosophila Stock Center, School of Life Sciences, Devi Ahilya Yishwavidyalaya, Vigyan Bhawan, Khandwa Road Campus, Indore 452 001, India, , , , , , IN.
authors.forename: Jyoti
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bhojwani
authors.affiliation: Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500007, India, , , , , , IN.
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Shashidhara
authors.affiliation: Drosophila Stock Center, School of Life Sciences, Devi Ahilya Yishwavidyalaya, Vigyan Bhawan, Khandwa Road Campus, Indore 452 001, India, , , , , , IN.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sinha
keywords: Antennapedia; Drosophila; Eye-antennal discs; Homeosis; Key words teashirt