Dataset Information

Six3 acts upstream of foxQ2 in labrum and neural development in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum.

ABSTRACT: Anterior patterning in animals is based on a gene regulatory network, which comprises highly conserved transcription factors like six3, pax6 and otx. More recently, foxQ2 was found to be an ancestral component of this network but its regulatory interactions showed evolutionary differences. In most animals, foxQ2 is a downstream target of six3 and knockdown leads to mild or no epidermal phenotypes. In contrast, in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, foxQ2 gained a more prominent role in patterning leading to strong epidermal and brain phenotypes and being required for six3 expression. However, it has remained unclear which of these novel aspects were insect or arthropod specific. Here, we study expression and RNAi phenotype of the single foxQ2 ortholog of the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. We find early anterior expression similar to the one of insects. Further, we show an epidermal phenotype in the labrum similar to the insect phenotype. However, our data indicate that foxQ2 is positioned downstream of six3 like in other animals but unlike insects. Hence, the epidermal and neural pattering function of foxQ2 is ancestral for arthropods while the upstream role of foxQ2 may have evolved in the lineage leading to the insects.

SUBMITTER: Schacht MI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7128001 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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six3 acts upstream of foxQ2 in labrum and neural development in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum.

Schacht Magdalena Ines MI Schomburg Christoph C Bucher Gregor G

Development genes and evolution 20200210 2

Anterior patterning in animals is based on a gene regulatory network, which comprises highly conserved transcription factors like six3, pax6 and otx. More recently, foxQ2 was found to be an ancestral component of this network but its regulatory interactions showed evolutionary differences. In most animals, foxQ2 is a downstream target of six3 and knockdown leads to mild or no epidermal phenotypes. In contrast, in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, foxQ2 gained a more prominent role in pat ...[more]

PMID: 32040712

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Project description:BackgroundTwo visual systems are present in most arthropod groups: median and lateral eyes. Most of our current knowledge about the developmental and molecular mechanisms involved in eye formation in arthropods comes from research in the model system Drosophila melanogaster. Here, a core set of retinal determination genes, namely, sine-oculis (so), eyes absent (eya), dachshund (dac), and the two pax6 orthologues eyeless (ey) and twin of eyeless (toy) govern early retinal development. By contrast, not much is known about the development of the up-to-eight eyes present in spiders. Therefore, we analyzed the embryonic expression of core retinal determination genes in the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum.ResultsWe show that the anlagen of the median and lateral eyes in P. tepidariorum originate from different regions of the non-neurogenic ectoderm in the embryonic head. The median eyes are specified as two individual anlagen in an anterior median position in the developing head and subsequently move to their final position following extensive morphogenetic movements of the non-neurogenic ectoderm. The lateral eyes develop from a more lateral position. Intriguingly, they are specified as a unique field of cells that splits into the three individual lateral eyes during late embryonic development. Using gene expression analyses, we identified a unique combination of determination gene expression in the anlagen of the lateral and median eyes, respectively.ConclusionsThis study of retinal determination genes in the common house spider P. tepidariorum represents the first comprehensive analysis of the well-known retinal determination genes in arthropods outside insects. The development of the individual lateral eyes via the subdivision of one single eye primordium might be the vestige of a larger composite eye anlage, and thus supports the notion that the composite eye is the plesiomorphic state of the lateral eyes in arthropods. The molecular distinction of the two visual systems is similar to the one described for compound eyes and ocelli in Drosophila, suggesting that a unique core determination network for median and lateral eyes, respectively, might have been in place already in the last common ancestor of spiders and insects.

Dataset Information

Six3 acts upstream of foxQ2 in labrum and neural development in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum.

Publications

six3 acts upstream of foxQ2 in labrum and neural development in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum.

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