A cysteine-clamp gene drives embryo polarity in the midge Chironomus

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2015 papers

Abstract

In the fruit fly Drosophila, head formation is driven by a single gene, bicoid, which generates head-to-tail polarity of the main embryonic axis. Bicoid deficiency results in embryos with tail-to-tail polarity and no head. However, most insects lack bicoid, and the molecular mechanism for establishing head-to-tail polarity is poorly understood. We have identified a gene that establishes head-to-tail polarity of the mosquito-like midge, Chironomus riparius. This gene, named panish, encodes a cysteine-clamp DNA binding domain and operates through a different mechanism than bicoid. This finding, combined with the observation that the phylogenetic distributions of panish and bicoid are limited to specific families of flies, reveals frequent evolutionary changes of body axis determinants and a remarkable opportunity to study gene regulatory network evolution.

Related Papers

• → Analysis of Drosophila melanogaster Lifespan(2020)30 cited
• → Drosophilids with darker cuticle have higher body temperature under light(2023)14 cited
• → Methods to Assay the Behavior of Drosophila melanogaster for Toxicity Study(2021)4 cited
• → THE INFLUENCE OF AGE AND SEX OF THE GERM CELLS ON THE FREQUENCY OF MUTATION IN DROSOPHILA SIMULANS AND DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER(1937)12 cited
• → Drosophilid cuticle pigmentation impacts body temperature(2022)1 cited