Joyner Alexandra L, Ortigão-Farias João Ramalho, Kornberg Thomas
Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology Program and Neuroscience Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Development. 2024 Dec 15;151(24). doi: 10.1242/dev.204250. Epub 2024 Dec 13.
More than 40 years ago, studies of the Drosophila engrailed and Hox genes led to major discoveries that shaped the history of developmental biology. We learned that these genes define the state of determination of cells that populate particular spatially defined regions: the identity of segmental domains by Hox genes, and the identity of posterior developmental compartments by engrailed. Hence, the boundaries that delimit spatial domains depend on engrailed. Here, we review the engrailed field, which now includes orthologs in Drosophila and mouse, as well as many other animals. We focus on fly and mouse and highlight additional functions that span early stages of embryogenesis and neural development.
40多年前，对果蝇的engrailed基因和Hox基因的研究带来了重大发现，这些发现塑造了发育生物学的历史。我们了解到，这些基因定义了构成特定空间定义区域的细胞的决定状态：Hox基因决定节段域的身份，engrailed基因决定后部发育区室的身份。因此，界定空间域的边界取决于engrailed基因。在这里，我们回顾engrailed基因领域，该领域现在包括果蝇和小鼠以及许多其他动物中的直系同源基因。我们重点关注果蝇和小鼠，并突出其在胚胎发生和神经发育早期阶段的其他功能。
