Requirement of teashirt (tsh) function during cell fate specification in developing head structures in Drosophila.
Dev Genes Evol 2017;
207:137-146. [PMID:
27747411 DOI:
10.1007/s004270050101]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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.
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