Centro de Biología Molecular, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain.
Department of Zoology and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Dev Biol. 2022 Apr;484:12-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2022.01.008. Epub 2022 Feb 2.
In this review we recall a number of important discoveries that took place in Drosophila during the seventies and eighties of the last century. The development of cell lineage methods and of powerful modifications of same, such as the Minute technique, led to the discovery of compartments and provided a clearer picture of the body organization: that came to be seen as a chain of metameric lineage units along the A/P body axis. Further, genetic screens allowed the identification of the genes involved in the establishment of the metameric scaffold - the segmentation genes- and also of Hox genes that are responsible for the specific development of individual body parts. As cloning methods became available, many of the most relevant of these developmental genes were cloned and a molecular analysis of development initiated. The discovery of the homeobox, a molecular mark of Hox and other relevant developmental genes, allowed the finding of Hox genes in animal species, like humans, in which they could not be identified by genetic methods. Analysis of the structure and function of Hox genes provided a general image of the genetic design of the metazoan body.
在这篇综述中，我们回顾了上个世纪七、八十年代在果蝇中发生的一些重要发现。细胞谱系方法的发展及其强大的改进，如 Minute 技术，导致了隔室的发现，并提供了更清晰的身体组织图像：身体被看作是沿着 A/P 体轴的一系列分节谱系单位。此外，遗传筛选允许鉴定参与建立分节支架的基因——分段基因——以及负责个体身体部位特定发育的 Hox 基因。随着克隆方法的出现，许多最相关的发育基因被克隆，并且开始进行发育的分子分析。同源盒的发现，即 Hox 和其他相关发育基因的分子标记，使得在像人类这样的动物物种中发现 Hox 基因成为可能，而这些基因无法通过遗传方法进行鉴定。Hox 基因的结构和功能分析提供了后生动物身体遗传设计的总体图像。
