Abstract
The expression and regulation of Hox genes in developing central nervous system (CNS) lack important details like specific cell types where Hox genes are expressed and the transcriptional regulatory players involved in these cells. In this study we have investigated the expression and regulation of Drosophila Hox gene Deformed (Dfd) in specific cell types of embryonic CNS. Using Dfd neural autoregulatory enhancer we find that Dfd autoregulates itself in cells of mandibular neuromere. We have also investigated the role of a Hox cofactor Homothorax (Hth) for its role in regulating Dfd expression in CNS. We find that Hth exhibits a region specific role in controlling the expression of Dfd, but has no direct role in mandibular Dfd neural autoregulatory circuit. Our results also suggest that homeodomain of Hth is not required for regulating Dfd expression in embryonic CNS.
Highlights
Hox genes are a highly conserved family of homeodomain containing transcription factors which are well known for their role in specification of the anterior–posterior axis (Pearson et al, 2005)
Our understanding of expression and regulation of Hox genes in embryonic central nervous system (CNS) has been lacking important details like specific cell types where Hox genes are expressed and the regulatory molecular players involved in these cells
Dfd autoregulation happens in Mn neuromere of CNS through a 3.2 kb neural autoregulatory enhancer (NAE), which critically depends on Dfd protein for its expression in cells of CNS (Lou et al, 1995; Zeng et al, 1994)
Summary
Hox genes are a highly conserved family of homeodomain containing transcription factors which are well known for their role in specification of the anterior–posterior axis (Pearson et al, 2005). A parallel role for Hox genes in central nervous system (CNS) patterning and development is well known yet not completely understood Mechanisms underlying their expression and regulation in CNS need to be investigated. The phenomenon of autoregulation of Hox genes has been suggested as an important mechanism for their sustained expression during development. To this end both neural and non-neural autoregulatory loops have been identified and investigated in Drosophila and vertebrates (Bergson and McGinnis, 1990; Haerry and Gehring, 1996; Kuziora and McGinnis, 1988; Lou et al, 1995; Manzanares et al, 2001; Marty et al, 2001; Muller et al, 1989; Packer et al, 1998; Popperl et al, 1995; Tremml and Bienz, 1992; Yau et al, 2002; Zappavigna et al, 1991)
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