PMID:16815386

Citation	Pallavi, SK, Kannan, R and Shashidhara, LS (2006) Negative regulation of Egfr/Ras pathway by Ultrabithorax during haltere development in Drosophila. Dev. Biol. 296:340-52
Abstract	In Drosophila, wings and halteres are the dorsal appendages of the second and third thoracic segments, respectively. In the third thoracic segment, homeotic selector gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx) suppresses wing development to mediate haltere development (E.B. Lewis, 1978. A gene complex controlling segmentation in Drosophila. Nature 276, 565-570). Halteres lack stout sensory bristles of the wing margin and veins that reticulate the wing blade. Furthermore, wing and haltere epithelia differ in the size, shape, spacing and number of cuticular hairs. The differential development of wing and haltere, thus, constitutes a good genetic system to study cell fate determination. Here, we report that down-regulation of Egfr/Ras pathway is critical for haltere fate specification: over-expression of positive components of this pathway causes significant haltere-to-wing transformations. RNA in situ, immunohistochemistry, and epistasis genetic experiments suggest that Ubx negatively regulates the expression of the ligand vein as well as the receptor Egf-r to down-regulate the signaling pathway. Electromobility shift assays further suggest that Egf-r is a potential direct target of Ubx. These results and other recent findings suggest that homeotic genes may regulate cell fate determination by directly regulating few steps at the top of the hierarchy of selected signal transduction pathways.
Links	PubMed Online version:10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.05.035
Keywords	Animals; Down-Regulation/genetics; Down-Regulation/physiology; Drosophila/genetics; Drosophila/growth & development; Drosophila Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors; Drosophila Proteins/biosynthesis; Drosophila Proteins/genetics; Drosophila Proteins/physiology; Homeodomain Proteins/genetics; Homeodomain Proteins/physiology; Protein Kinases/biosynthesis; Protein Kinases/genetics; Protein Kinases/physiology; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/antagonists & inhibitors; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/biosynthesis; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/genetics; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/physiology; Receptors, Invertebrate Peptide/antagonists & inhibitors; Receptors, Invertebrate Peptide/biosynthesis; Receptors, Invertebrate Peptide/genetics; Receptors, Invertebrate Peptide/physiology; Signal Transduction/genetics; Signal Transduction/physiology; Thorax/abnormalities; Thorax/embryology; Thorax/growth & development; Transcription Factors/genetics; Transcription Factors/physiology; Wing/abnormalities; Wing/embryology; Wing/growth & development; ras Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors; ras Proteins/biosynthesis; ras Proteins/genetics; ras Proteins/physiology
edit table

Annotations

Gene product	Qualifier	GO ID	GO term name	Evidence Code	with/from	Aspect	Notes	Status
edit table

References

See Help:References for how to manage references in GONUTS.