Guan Xiao, Middlebrooks Brooke W, Alexander Sherry, Wasserman Steven A
Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0349, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Nov 7;103(45):16794-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0607616103. Epub 2006 Oct 30.
Body shape determination represents a critical aspect of morphogenesis. In the course of investigating body shape regulation in Drosophila, we have identified a dominant mutation, TweedleD(1) (TwdlD(1)), that alters overall dimensions at the larval and pupal stages. Characterization of the affected locus led to the discovery of a gene family that has 27 members in Drosophila and is found only among insects. Analysis of gene expression at the RNA and protein levels revealed gene-specific temporal and spatial patterns in ectodermally derived tissues. In addition, light microscopic studies of fluorescently tagged proteins demonstrated that Tweedle proteins are incorporated into larval cuticular structures. This demonstration that a mutation in a Drosophila cuticular protein gene alters overall morphology confirms a role for the fly exoskeleton in determining body shape. Furthermore, parallels between these findings and studies of cuticle collagen genes in Caenorhabditis elegans suggest that the exoskeleton influences body shape in diverse organisms.
体型的确定是形态发生的一个关键方面。在研究果蝇体型调控的过程中，我们鉴定出了一个显性突变，即TweedleD(1)（TwdlD(1)），它会改变幼虫和蛹期的整体尺寸。对受影响基因座的表征导致发现了一个基因家族，该家族在果蝇中有27个成员，且仅在昆虫中存在。对RNA和蛋白质水平上基因表达的分析揭示了外胚层来源组织中基因特异性的时空模式。此外，对荧光标记蛋白的光学显微镜研究表明，Tweedle蛋白被整合到幼虫的表皮结构中。果蝇表皮蛋白基因突变会改变整体形态，这一发现证实了果蝇外骨骼在确定体型方面的作用。此外，这些发现与秀丽隐杆线虫角质层胶原蛋白基因研究之间的相似之处表明，外骨骼在多种生物中影响体型。
