Berger Christian, Renner Simone, Lüer Karin, Technau Gerhard M
Institute of Genetics, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Dev Dyn. 2007 Dec;236(12):3562-8. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.21372.
Glial cells in the Drosophila embryonic nervous system can be monitored with the marker Reversed-polarity (Repo), whereas neurons lack Repo and express the RNA-binding protein ELAV (Embryonic Lethal, Abnormal Vision). Since the first description of the ELAV protein distribution in 1991 (Robinow and White), it is believed that ELAV is an exclusive neuronal and postmitotic marker. Looking at ELAV expression, we unexpectedly observed that, in addition to neurons, ELAV is transiently expressed in embryonic glial cells. Furthermore, it is transiently present in the proliferating longitudinal glioblast, and it is transcribed in embryonic neuroblasts. Likewise, elav-Gal4 lines, which are generally used as postmitotic neuronal driver lines, show expression in neural progenitor cells and nearly all embryonic glial cells. Thus, in the embryo, elav can no longer be considered an exclusive marker or driver for postmitotic neurons. elav loss-of-function mutants show no obvious effects on the number and pattern of embryonic glia.
果蝇胚胎神经系统中的神经胶质细胞可用标记物反向极性（Repo）进行监测，而神经元缺乏Repo并表达RNA结合蛋白ELAV（胚胎致死，视力异常）。自1991年首次描述ELAV蛋白分布以来（罗宾诺和怀特），人们认为ELAV是一种独特的神经元和有丝分裂后标记物。观察ELAV的表达，我们意外地发现，除了神经元外，ELAV在胚胎神经胶质细胞中也有短暂表达。此外，它短暂存在于增殖的纵向神经胶质母细胞中，并在胚胎神经母细胞中被转录。同样，通常用作有丝分裂后神经元驱动系的elav-Gal4系在神经祖细胞和几乎所有胚胎神经胶质细胞中都有表达。因此，在胚胎中，elav不能再被视为有丝分裂后神经元的独特标记物或驱动物。elav功能丧失突变体对胚胎神经胶质细胞的数量和模式没有明显影响。
