u-shaped encodes a zinc finger protein that regulates the proneural genesachaete and scute during the formation of bristles in Drosophila
- Yolande Cubadda1,
- Pascal Heitzler1,
- Robert P. Ray2,3,
- Marc Bourouis1,
- Philippe Ramain1,
- William Gelbart2,
- Pat Simpson1, and
- Marc Haenlin1,4
- 1Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (I.G.B.M.C.), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale/Université Louis Pasteur (CNRS/INSERM/ULP), 67404 Illkirch Cedex, Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg, France; 2Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-2020 USA
Abstract
The pattern of the large sensory bristles on the notum ofDrosophila arises as a consequence of the expression of theachaete and scute genes. The gene u-shapedencodes a novel zinc finger that acts as a transregulator ofachaete and scute in the dorsal region of the notum. Viable hypomorphic u-shaped mutants display additional dorsocentral and scutellar bristles that result from overexpression ofachaete and scute. In contrast, overexpression ofu-shaped causes a loss of achaete–scute expression and consequently a loss of dorsal bristles. The effects on the dorsocentral bristles appear to be mediated through the enhancer sequences that regulate achaete and scute at this site. The effects ofu-shaped mutants are similar to those of a class of dominant alleles of the gene pannier with which they display allele-specific interactions, suggesting that the products of both genes cooperate in the regulation of achaete and scute.A study of the sites at which the dorsocentral bristles arise in mosaicu-shaped nota, suggests that the levels of the u-shapedprotein are crucial for the precise positioning of the precursors of these bristles.
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Footnotes
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↵3 Present address: Howar Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA.
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↵4 Corresponding author.
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E-MAIL march{at}igbmc.u-strasbg.fr; FAX (33) 88 65 32 01.
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- Received July 1, 1997.
- Accepted August 27, 1997.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
