TRANS-ACTING AND CIS-ACTING REQUIREMENTS FOR BLASTODERMAL EXPRESSION OF THE HEAD GAP GENE BUTTONHEAD

Citation
Ea. Wimmer et al., TRANS-ACTING AND CIS-ACTING REQUIREMENTS FOR BLASTODERMAL EXPRESSION OF THE HEAD GAP GENE BUTTONHEAD, Mechanisms of development, 53(2), 1995, pp. 235-245
Citations number
55
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Developmental Biology
Journal title
ISSN journal
0925-4773
Volume
53
Issue
2
Year of publication
1995
Pages
235 - 245
Database
ISI
SICI code
0925-4773(1995)53:2<235:TACRFB>2.0.ZU;2-N
Abstract
The Drosophila gene buttonhead (btd) encodes a zinc-finger protein rel ated to the human transcription factor Spl. btd is expressed in the sy ncytial blastoderm embryo in a stripe covering the anlagen of the ante nnal, intercalary and mandibular head segments. btd has been character ized as a head gap gene, since these segments are deleted in btd mutan t embryos. We report here that the cis-acting elements required for bt d head stripe expression are contained in a 1 kb DNA fragment, located about 3 kb upstream of the promoter. The four maternal coordinate sys tems are necessary for correct btd head stripe expression, likely by a cting through the 1 kb cis-acting control region. Expression of the bt d head stripe depends on the anterior morphogen encoded by the gene bi coid (bcd). bcd-dependent activation also involves the activity of the morphogens of the posterior and dorsoventral systems, hunchback and d orsal, respectively, which act together to control the spatial limits of the expression domain. Finally, the terminal system takes part in t he regulation of btd head stripe expression by enhancing activation at low levels of activity and repression at high levels of activity.