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First published online 30 November 2005
doi: 10.1242/dev.02173

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) A corrigendum has been published All Versions of this Article: dev.02173v1 133/1/117    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Foronda, D. Articles by Sánchez-Herrero, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Foronda, D. Articles by Sánchez-Herrero, E.

Requirement of abdominal-A and Abdominal-B in the developing genitalia of Drosophila breaks the posterior downregulation rule

David Foronda^*, Beatriz Estrada^*,, Luis de Navas and Ernesto Sánchez-Herrero

Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (C.S.I.C.-U.A.M.), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.

Author for correspondence (e-mail: esherrero{at}cbm.uam.es)

Accepted 24 October 2005

The genitalia of Drosophila derive from the genital disc and require the activity of the Abdominal-B (Abd-B) Hox gene. This gene encodes two different proteins, Abd-B M and Abd-B R. We show here that the embryonic genital disc, like the larval genital disc, is formed by cells from the eighth (A8), ninth (A9) and tenth (A10) abdominal segments, which most likely express the Abd-B M, Abd-B R and Caudal products, respectively. Abd-B m is needed for the development of A8 derivatives such as the external and internal female genitalia, the latter also requiring abdominal-A (abd-A), whereas Abd-B r shapes male genitalia (A9 in males). Although Abd-B r represses Abd-B m in the embryo, in at least part of the male A9 such regulation does not occur. In the male A9, some Abd-B m^–r^– or Abd-B r^– clones activate Distal-less and transform part of the genitalia into leg or antenna. In the female A8, many Abd-B m^–r^– mutant clones produce similar effects, and also downregulate or eliminate abdominal-A expression. By contrast, although Abd-B m is the main or only Abd-B transcript present in the female A8, Abd-B m^– clones induced in this primordium do not alter Distal-less or abd-A expression, and transform the A8 segment into the A4. The relationship between Abd-B and abd-A in the female genital disc is opposite to that of the embryonic epidermis, and contravenes the rule that posteriorly expressed Hox genes downregulate more anterior ones.

Key words: Hox, abdominal-A, Abdominal-B, Distal-less, Genitalia, Imaginal disc

Related articles in Development:

Breaking the Hox posterior prevalence rule

Development 2006 133: e103. [Full Text]  

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				D. L. Garaulet, D. Foronda, M. Calleja, and E. Sanchez-Herrero Polycomb-dependent Ultrabithorax Hox gene silencing induced by high Ultrabithorax levels in Drosophila Development, October 1, 2008; 135(19): 3219 - 3228. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]