Dataset Information

Drosophila araucan and caupolican integrate intrinsic and signalling inputs for the acquisition by muscle progenitors of the lateral transverse fate.

ABSTRACT: A central issue of myogenesis is the acquisition of identity by individual muscles. In Drosophila, at the time muscle progenitors are singled out, they already express unique combinations of muscle identity genes. This muscle code results from the integration of positional and temporal signalling inputs. Here we identify, by means of loss-of-function and ectopic expression approaches, the Iroquois Complex homeobox genes araucan and caupolican as novel muscle identity genes that confer lateral transverse muscle identity. The acquisition of this fate requires that Araucan/Caupolican repress other muscle identity genes such as slouch and vestigial. In addition, we show that Caupolican-dependent slouch expression depends on the activation state of the Ras/Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase cascade. This provides a comprehensive insight into the way Iroquois genes integrate in muscle progenitors, signalling inputs that modulate gene expression and protein activity.

SUBMITTER: Carrasco-Rando M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3141015 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Drosophila araucan and caupolican integrate intrinsic and signalling inputs for the acquisition by muscle progenitors of the lateral transverse fate.

Carrasco-Rando Marta M Tutor Antonio S AS Prieto-Sánchez Silvia S González-Pérez Esther E Barrios Natalia N Letizia Annalisa A Martín Paloma P Campuzano Sonsoles S Ruiz-Gómez Mar M

PLoS genetics 20110721 7

A central issue of myogenesis is the acquisition of identity by individual muscles. In Drosophila, at the time muscle progenitors are singled out, they already express unique combinations of muscle identity genes. This muscle code results from the integration of positional and temporal signalling inputs. Here we identify, by means of loss-of-function and ectopic expression approaches, the Iroquois Complex homeobox genes araucan and caupolican as novel muscle identity genes that confer lateral tr ...[more]

PMID: 21811416

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Project description:BackgroundPatterning and differentiation of developing musculatures require elaborate networks of transcriptional regulation. In Drosophila, significant progress has been made into identifying the regulators of muscle development and defining their interactive networks. One major family of transcription factors involved in these processes consists of homeodomain proteins. In flies, several members of this family serve as muscle identity genes to specify the fates of individual muscles, or groups thereof, during embryonic and/or adult muscle development. Herein, we report on the expression and function of a new Drosophila homeobox gene during both embryonic and adult muscle development.Methodology/principal findingsThe newly described homeobox gene, termed lateral muscles scarcer (lms), which has yet uncharacterized orthologs in other invertebrates and primitive chordates but not in vertebrates, is expressed exclusively in subsets of developing muscle tissues. In embryos, lms is expressed specifically in the four lateral transverse (LT) muscles and their founder cells in each hemisegment, whereas in larval wing imaginal discs, it is expressed in myoblasts that develop into direct flight muscles (DFMs), which are important for proper wing positioning. We have analyzed the regulatory inputs of various other muscle identity genes with overlapping or complementary expression patterns towards the cell type specific regulation of lms expression. Further we demonstrate that lms null mutants exhibit reduced numbers of embryonic LT muscles, and null mutant adults feature held-out-wing phenotypes. We provide a detailed description of the pattern and morphology of the direct flight muscles in the wild type and lms mutant flies by using the recently-developed ultramicroscopy and show that, in the mutants, all DFMs are present and present normal morphologies.Conclusions/significanceWe have identified the homeobox gene lms as a new muscle identity gene and show that it interacts with various previously-characterized muscle identity genes to regulate normal formation of embryonic lateral transverse muscles. In addition, the direct flight muscles in the adults require lms for reliably exerting their functions in controlling wing postures.

Dataset Information

Drosophila araucan and caupolican integrate intrinsic and signalling inputs for the acquisition by muscle progenitors of the lateral transverse fate.

Publications

Drosophila araucan and caupolican integrate intrinsic and signalling inputs for the acquisition by muscle progenitors of the lateral transverse fate.

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