Ng Teclise, Yu Fengwei, Roy Sudipto
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore, 138673, Singapore.
Dev Genes Evol. 2006 May;216(5):243-52. doi: 10.1007/s00427-005-0044-5. Epub 2006 Feb 28.
The B-lymphocyte-inducing maturation protein (Blimp-1) gene encodes a zinc finger and SET/PR domain-containing transcriptional factor. A number of functional studies in a variety of vertebrate species have demonstrated that Blimp-1 is a master regulator of cell fate determination and cell differentiation in a wide diversity of developmental contexts. Despite all of this significance, the role, if any, of a homologue of Blimp-1 in directing morphogenetic events during embryonic development of invertebrates has so far remained completely unexplored. In this report, we describe the identification of a Drosophila homologue of Blimp-1 and show that the gene is expressed in diverse cell types during the course of embryogenesis. Further, using genetic analysis, we demonstrate that its wild-type activity is critically required for the maturation of the tracheal system into properly differentiated tubes.
B淋巴细胞诱导成熟蛋白（Blimp-1）基因编码一种含有锌指和SET/PR结构域的转录因子。在多种脊椎动物物种中进行的大量功能研究表明，Blimp-1是多种发育环境下细胞命运决定和细胞分化的主要调节因子。尽管具有所有这些重要意义，但迄今为止，Blimp-1的同源物在无脊椎动物胚胎发育过程中指导形态发生事件方面所起的作用（如果有的话）仍完全未被探索。在本报告中，我们描述了果蝇中Blimp-1同源物的鉴定，并表明该基因在胚胎发生过程中在多种细胞类型中表达。此外，通过遗传分析，我们证明其野生型活性对于气管系统成熟为适当分化的管道至关重要。
