Developmental rescue of Drosophila cephalic defects by the human Otx genes

The molecular mechanisms of head development are a central question in vertebrate and invertebrate developmental biology. The anteriorly expressed homeobox gene otd in Drosophila and its homolog Otx in mouse are required for the early development of the most anterior part of the body, suggesting tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1998-03, Vol.95 (7), p.3737-3742
Main Authors: Nagao, T. (University of Tsukuba, Japan.), Leuzinger, S, Acampora, D, Simeone, A, Finkelstein, R, Reichert, H, Furukubo-Tokunaga, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
ANIMAL PROTEINS
Animals
BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
Biological Sciences
Brain
Cell lines
COMPLEMENTATION
Drosophila
Drosophila - embryology
Drosophila - genetics
DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
GENE TRANSFER
Gene Transfer Techniques
Genes
GENETICS
HEAD
Head - abnormalities
Head - embryology
HEAT SHOCK PROTEINS
Homeodomain Proteins
Human genetics
Humans
Insect morphology
Insects
MANKIND
Mice
Molecular genetics
Molecular Sequence Data
MUTANTS
Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics
Otx Transcription Factors
Oviposition
Prenatal development
PROMOTERS
PROTEINS
PUPAE
RECOMBINANT DNA
Trans-Activators - genetics
Transcription Factors
TRANSGENIC ANIMALS
Vertebrates
Vertices
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Summary:The molecular mechanisms of head development are a central question in vertebrate and invertebrate developmental biology. The anteriorly expressed homeobox gene otd in Drosophila and its homolog Otx in mouse are required for the early development of the most anterior part of the body, suggesting that a fundamental genetic program of cephalic development might be conserved between vertebrates and invertebrates. We have examined this hypothesis by introducing the human Otx genes into flies. By inducing expression of the human Otx homologs with a heat shock promoter, we found that both Otx1 and Otx2 functionally complement the cephalic defects of a fly otd mutant through specific activation and inactivation of downstream genes. Combined with previous morphological studies, these results are consistent with the view that a common molecular ground plan of cephalization was invented before the diversification of the protostome and the deuterostome in the course of metazoan evolution.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.95.7.3737