Abstract
The Drosophila wing primordium is subdivided into a dorsal (D) and a ventral (V) compartment by the activity of the LIM-homeodomain protein Apterous in D cells. Cell interactions between D and V cells induce the activation of Notch at the DV boundary. Notch is required for the maintenance of the compartment boundary and the growth of the wing primordium. Beadex, a gain-of-function allele of dLMO, results in increased levels of dLMO protein, which interferes with the activity of Apterous and results in defects in DV axis formation. We performed a gain-of-function enhancer-promoter (EP) screen to search for suppressors of Beadex when overexpressed in D cells. We identified 53 lines corresponding to 35 genes. Loci encoding for micro-RNAs and proteins involved in chromatin organization, transcriptional control, and vesicle trafficking were characterized in the context of dLMO activity and DV boundary formation. Our results indicate that a gain-of-function genetic screen in a sensitized background, as opposed to classical loss-of-function-based screenings, is a very efficient way to identify redundant genes involved in a developmental process.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Genetics |
| Volume | 178 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 307-23 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISSN | 0016-6731 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Animals
- Biological Transport
- Body Patterning
- Chromatin
- Drosophila Proteins
- Drosophila melanogaster
- Genes, Insect
- Genes, Suppressor
- In Situ Hybridization
- Membrane Fusion
- Phenotype
- Phosphorylation
- Protein Structure, Tertiary
- Receptors, Notch
- Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
- Suppression, Genetic
- Transcription, Genetic
- Transport Vesicles
- Wing