Kawashima Tomo, Nakamura Akira, Yasuda Kunio, Kageyama Yuji
Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5 Takayama, Nara 630-0192, Japan.
Gene Expr Patterns. 2003 Oct;3(5):663-7. doi: 10.1016/s1567-133x(03)00093-0.
Members of the maf gene family encode basic/leucine zipper transcription factors and play important roles during cell differentiation and organogenesis in vertebrate development. In this study, we show that the maf family is evolutionarily conserved and that the Drosophila maf (Dmaf) gene is expressed in somatic gonadal cells. During embryonic development, Dmaf mRNA is detected in somatic gonadal precursor cells emerging from dorsolateral mesoderm. Relatively weak expression is also observed in subset of neuronal cells in the central nervous system. In adult flies, Dmaf is expressed in somatic gonadal cells surrounding developing oocytes and spermatocytes. These results suggest a specific function for Dmaf in gonadal development, including migration and differentiation of primordial germ cells.
maf基因家族的成员编码碱性/亮氨酸拉链转录因子，并在脊椎动物发育过程中的细胞分化和器官形成中发挥重要作用。在本研究中，我们表明maf家族在进化上是保守的，并且果蝇maf（Dmaf）基因在体细胞性腺细胞中表达。在胚胎发育期间，在从背外侧中胚层产生的体细胞性腺前体细胞中检测到Dmaf mRNA。在中枢神经系统的神经元细胞亚群中也观察到相对较弱的表达。在成年果蝇中，Dmaf在围绕发育中的卵母细胞和精母细胞的体细胞性腺细胞中表达。这些结果表明Dmaf在性腺发育中具有特定功能，包括原始生殖细胞的迁移和分化。
