Multiple products from the shavenbaby-ovo gene region of Drosophila melanogaster: relationship to genetic complexity

1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 6809-6818
Author(s):  
M D Garfinkel ◽  
J Wang ◽  
Y Liang ◽  
A P Mahowald
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Gene Region ◽  
Multiple Products ◽  
Zinc Finger Motifs ◽  
Genetic Complexity ◽  
Complex Locus ◽  
Female Germ Line ◽  
Sensory Structures ◽  
Pole Cells

The Drosophila melanogaster shavenbaby (svb)-ovo gene region is a complex locus, containing two distinct but comutable genetic functions. ovo is required for survival and differentiation of female germ line cells and plays a role in germ line sex determination. In contrast, svb is required in both male and female embryos for the production of epidermal locomotor and sensory structures. Sequences required for the two genetic functions are partially overlapping. ovo corresponds to a previously described germ line-dependent 5.0-kb poly(A)+ mRNA that first appears in the germarium and accumulates in nurse cells during oogenesis. The 5.0-kb mRNA is stored in the egg, but it is rapidly lost in the embryos except for its continued presence in the germ line precursor pole cells. The ovo mRNA predicts a 1,028-amino-acid 110.6-kDa protein homologous with transcription factors. We have identified an embryonic mRNA, 7.1 kb in length, that contains exons partially overlapping those of the 5.0-kb poly(A)+ mRNA. The spatial distribution of this newly discovered transcript during midembryogenesis suggests that it corresponds to the svb function. The arrangement of exons common to the 5.0- and 7.1-kb mRNAs suggests that the Ovo and Svb proteins share DNA-binding specificity conferred by four Cys2-His2 zinc finger motifs but differ functionally in their capacity to interact with other components of the transcription machinery.

scholarly journals Multiple products from the shavenbaby-ovo gene region of Drosophila melanogaster: relationship to genetic complexity.

1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 6809-6818 ◽  
Author(s):  
M D Garfinkel ◽  
J Wang ◽  
Y Liang ◽  
A P Mahowald
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Gene Region ◽  
Multiple Products ◽  
Zinc Finger Motifs ◽  
Genetic Complexity ◽  
Complex Locus ◽  
Female Germ Line ◽  
Sensory Structures ◽  
Pole Cells

The Drosophila melanogaster shavenbaby (svb)-ovo gene region is a complex locus, containing two distinct but comutable genetic functions. ovo is required for survival and differentiation of female germ line cells and plays a role in germ line sex determination. In contrast, svb is required in both male and female embryos for the production of epidermal locomotor and sensory structures. Sequences required for the two genetic functions are partially overlapping. ovo corresponds to a previously described germ line-dependent 5.0-kb poly(A)+ mRNA that first appears in the germarium and accumulates in nurse cells during oogenesis. The 5.0-kb mRNA is stored in the egg, but it is rapidly lost in the embryos except for its continued presence in the germ line precursor pole cells. The ovo mRNA predicts a 1,028-amino-acid 110.6-kDa protein homologous with transcription factors. We have identified an embryonic mRNA, 7.1 kb in length, that contains exons partially overlapping those of the 5.0-kb poly(A)+ mRNA. The spatial distribution of this newly discovered transcript during midembryogenesis suggests that it corresponds to the svb function. The arrangement of exons common to the 5.0- and 7.1-kb mRNAs suggests that the Ovo and Svb proteins share DNA-binding specificity conferred by four Cys2-His2 zinc finger motifs but differ functionally in their capacity to interact with other components of the transcription machinery.

Induction of indora expression in pole cells by the mesoderm is required for female germ-line development in Drosophila melanogaster

Development ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 126 (5) ◽  
pp. 1023-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mukai ◽  
M. Kashikawa ◽  
S. Kobayashi
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Animal Groups ◽  
Novel Transcript ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Female Germ Line ◽  
Pole Cells

In many animal groups, the interaction between germ and somatic line is required for germ-line development. In Drosophila, the germ-line precursors (pole cells) formed at the posterior tip of the embryos migrate toward the mesodermal layer where they adhere to the dorsolateral mesoderm, which ensheaths the pole cells to form the embryonic gonads. These mesodermal cells may control the expression of genes that function in pole cells for their development into germ cells. However, such downstream genes have not been isolated. In this study, we identify a novel transcript, indora (idr), which is expressed only in pole cells within the gonads. Reduction of idr transcripts by an antisense idr expression caused the failure of pole cells to produce functional germ cells in females. Furthermore, we demonstrate that idr expression depends on the presence of the dorsolateral mesoderm, but it does not necessarily require its specification as the gonadal mesoderm. Our findings suggest that the induction of idr in pole cells by the mesodermal cells is required for germ-line development.

scholarly journals Maternal impairment of transposon regulation in Drosophila melanogaster by mutations in the genes aubergine, piwi and Suppressor of variegation 205

2010 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 261-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL J. SIMMONS ◽  
MICHAEL W. THORP ◽  
JARED T. BUSCHETTE ◽  
KATHERINE PETERSON ◽  
ERIC W. CROSS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
X Chromosome ◽  
Small Rnas ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Associated Sequences ◽  
Female Germ Line ◽  
Maternal Impairment

SummaryTP5, a P element inserted in the telomere-associated sequences of the X chromosome, represses the excision of other P elements in the germ line through a combination of maternal and zygotic effects. The maternal component of this repression is impaired by heterozygous mutations in the aubergine and Suppressor of variegation 205 genes; one mutation in the piwi gene also appears to impair repression. In the female germ line, the level of TP5 mRNA is increased by these impairing mutations. The impairing aubergine and piwi mutations also increase the level of germ-line mRNA from CP, a transgene that encodes the P-element transposase; however, the Suppressor of variegation 205 mutation does not. These findings are discussed in terms of a model of P-element regulation that involves post-transcriptional and chromatin re-organizing events mediated by maternally transmitted small RNAs derived from the telomeric P element.

scholarly journals Evidence for an inducible repair-recombination system in the female germ line of Drosophila melanogaster. I. Induction by inhibitors of nucleotide synthesis and by gamma rays.

Genetics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
J C Bregliano ◽  
A Laurençon ◽  
F Degroote
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Gamma Rays ◽  
Line Element ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Nucleotide Synthesis ◽  
Transposition Frequency ◽  
Recombination System ◽  
I Factor ◽  
Female Germ Line ◽  
Inducible Repair

Abstract In the I-R system of hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila melanogaster, the transposition frequency of I factor, a LINE element-like retrotransposon, is regulated by the reactivity level of the R mother. This reactivity is a cellular state maternally inherited but chromosomally determined, which has been shown to undergo heritable, cumulative and reversible changes with aging and some environmental conditions. We propose the hypothesis that this reactivity level is one manifestation of an inducible repair-recombination system whose biological role might be analogous to the SOS response in bacteria. In this paper, we show that inhibitors of DNA synthesis and gamma rays enhance the reactivity level in a very similar way. This enhancement is heritable, cumulative and reversible.

Genetic control of sex determination in the germ line and soma of the housefly, Musca domestica

Development ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 120 (9) ◽  
pp. 2531-2538 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Hilfiker-Kleiner ◽  
A. Dubendorfer ◽  
A. Hilfiker ◽  
R. Nothiger
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Musca Domestica ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
Maternal Effect ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
M Cells ◽  
Female Genotype ◽  
Female Germ Line ◽  
Pole Cells

In Musca domestica, sex in the soma is cell autonomously determined by the male-determiner M, or by the female-determiner FD. Transplanted pole cells (precursors of the germ line) show that sex determination of germ cells is non-autonomous genotypically male pole cells form functional eggs in female hosts, and genotypically female pole cells form functional sperm in male hosts. When M/+ cells undergo oogenesis, a male-determining maternal effect predetermines offspring without M, i.e. of female genotype, to develop as fertile males. FD is epistatic to M in the female germ line, as it is in the soma, overruling the masculinizing effect of M. The results suggest that maternal F product is needed for activation of the zygotic F gene.

scholarly journals MUTAGENESIS IN OOCYTES OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. I. SCHEDULED SYNTHESIS OF NUCLEAR AND MITOCHONDRIAL DNA AND UNSCHEDULED DNA SYNTHESIS

Genetics ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-299
Author(s):  
Mark R Kelley ◽  
William R Lee
Keyword(s):  
Dna Repair ◽  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Dna Synthesis ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Mutation Induction ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Unscheduled Dna Synthesis ◽  
Female Germ Line

ABSTRACT As a model system for studying mutagenesis, the oocyte of Drosophila melanogaster has exhibited considerable complexity. Very few experiments have been conducted on the effect of exposing oocytes to chemical mutagens, presumably due to their lower mutational response relative to sperm and spermatids. This lower response may be due either to a change in probability of mutation induction per adduct due to a change in the type of DNA repair or to a lower dose of the mutagen to the female germ line. To study molecular dosimetry and DNA repair in the oocyte, the large number of intracellular constituents (mtDNA, RNA, nucleic acid precursors and large quantities of proteins and lipids) must be separated from nuclear DNA. In this paper we present results showing reliable separation of such molecules enabling us to detect scheduled nuclear and mitochondrial DNA synthesis. We also, by understanding the precise timing of such events, can detect unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) as a measure of DNA repair. Furthermore, by comparing the UDS results in a repair competent (Ore-R) vs. a repair deficient (mei-9L1) strain, we have shown the oocyte capable of DNA repair after treatment with ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). We conclude that the important determinant of mutation induction in oocytes after treatment with EMS is the time interval between DNA alkylation and DNA synthesis after fertilization, i.e., the interruption of continuous DNA repair.

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