Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, 965 Fee Rd. A110, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Genes (Basel). 2023 Jan 24;14(2):304. doi: 10.3390/genes14020304.
How complex morphological patterns form is an intriguing question in developmental biology. However, the mechanisms that generate complex patterns remain largely unknown. Here, we sought to identify the genetic mechanisms that regulate the () gene in a multi-spotted pigmentation pattern on the abdomen and wings of . Previously, we showed that () gene expression completely prefigures the abdominal and wing pigment patterns of this species. In the current study, we demonstrate that the gene is co-expressed with the gene in nearly identical patterns, both transcripts foreshadowing the adult abdominal and wing melanin spot patterns. We identified -regulatory modules (CRMs) of , one of which drives reporter expression in six longitudinal rows of spots on the developing pupal abdomen, while the second CRM activates the reporter gene in a spotted wing pattern. Comparing the abdominal spot CRMs of and , we found a similar composition of putative transcription factor binding sites that are thought to regulate the complex expression patterns of both terminal pigmentation genes and . In contrast, the and wing spots appear to be regulated by distinct upstream factors. Our results suggest that the abdominal and wing melanin spot patterns have been established through the co-regulation of and , shedding light on how complex morphological traits may be regulated through the parallel coordination of downstream target genes.
形态复杂的模式是如何形成的，这是发育生物学中一个有趣的问题。然而，产生复杂模式的机制在很大程度上仍然未知。在这里，我们试图确定调节 （）基因的遗传机制，该基因在 （）腹部和翅膀上的多斑点色素模式中起作用。此前，我们表明 （）基因表达完全预示了该物种腹部和翅膀的色素模式。在本研究中，我们证明 基因与 基因在几乎相同的模式中共同表达，这两种转录本都预示着成年腹部和翅膀黑素斑点模式。我们确定了 （）的 调控模块（CRMs），其中一个 CRM 驱动发育中的蛹腹部的六个纵向斑点中的报告基因表达，而第二个 CRM 以斑点状翅膀模式激活报告基因。比较 和 的腹部斑点 CRM，我们发现了类似的假定转录因子结合位点的组成，这些结合位点被认为调节了两个终端色素基因 （）和 的复杂表达模式。相比之下， （）和 翅膀上的斑点似乎由不同的上游因子调控。我们的研究结果表明， 腹部和翅膀黑色素斑点模式是通过 （）和 的共同调控建立的，这为复杂形态特征如何通过下游靶基因的平行协调来调节提供了线索。
