The Iroquois homeodomain proteins are required to specify body wall identity in Drosophila
Abstract
The Iroquois complex (Iro-C) homeodomain proteins allow cells at the proximal part of the Drosophila imaginal wing disc to form mesothoracic body wall (notum). Cells lacking these proteins form wing hinge structures instead (tegula and axillary sclerites). Moreover, the mutant cells impose on neighboring wild-type cells more distal developmental fates, like lateral notum or wing hinge. These findings support a tergal phylogenetic origin for the most proximal part of the wing and provide evidence for a novel pattern organizing center at the border between the apposed notum (Iro-C-expressing) and hinge (Iro-C-nonexpressing) cells. This border is not a cell lineage restriction boundary.
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Footnotes
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Present addresses: 1Human Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QX, UK; 2Departamento de Ciencias Morfológicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Murcia, 30071 Murcia, Spain; 3Department of Biology, Laboratory of Developmental Biology, University of Chile, Ñuñoa, Casilla 653,Santiago, Chile.
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↵Corresponding author.
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E-MAIL jmodol{at}cbm.uam.es; FAX 34-91-397-4799.
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- Received November 30, 1998.
- Accepted May 7, 1999.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
