Doe C Q, Hiromi Y, Gehring W J, Goodman C S
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, CA 94305.
Science. 1988 Jan 8;239(4836):170-5. doi: 10.1126/science.2892267.
Segmentation genes control cell identities during early pattern formation in Drosophila. One of these genes, fushi tarazu (ftz), is now shown also to control cell fate during neurogenesis. Early in development, ftz is expressed in a striped pattern at the blastoderm stage. Later, it is transiently expressed in a specific subset of neuronal precursor cells, neurons (such as aCC, pCC, RP1, and RP2), and glia in the developing central nervous system (CNS). The function of ftz in the CNS was determined by creating ftz mutant embryos that express ftz in the blastoderm stripes but not in the CNS. In the absence of ftz CNS expression, some neurons appear normal (for example, the aCC, pCC, and RP1), whereas the RP2 neuron extends its growth cone along an abnormal pathway, mimicking its sibling (RP1), suggesting a transformation in neuronal identity.
分节基因在果蝇早期模式形成过程中控制细胞身份。其中一个基因，腹节基因（ftz），现在也被证明在神经发生过程中控制细胞命运。在发育早期，ftz在囊胚层阶段以条纹模式表达。后来，它在发育中的中枢神经系统（CNS）的特定神经元前体细胞、神经元（如aCC、pCC、RP1和RP2）以及神经胶质细胞亚群中短暂表达。ftz在中枢神经系统中的功能是通过创建ftz突变胚胎来确定的，这些胚胎在囊胚层条纹中表达ftz，但在中枢神经系统中不表达。在没有ftz中枢神经系统表达的情况下，一些神经元看起来正常（例如aCC、pCC和RP1），而RP2神经元沿着异常路径延伸其生长锥，模仿其同胞（RP1），这表明神经元身份发生了转变。
