Brown Haley E, Jean-Guillaume Claude, Weasner Brandon P, Kumar Justin P
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
Development. 2025 Jul 15;152(14). doi: 10.1242/dev.204317. Epub 2025 Jul 29.
During metazoan development, chromatin plasticity and genetic regulation are tightly connected to establish proper tissue fate and patterning. Drosophila imaginal discs are excellent models to study these processes as both genetic and mechanical injury can redirect their fate during regeneration. Reducing expression of Polycomb (Pc) results in the ectopic activation of the wing selector gene vestigial (vg) which in turn interacts with its DNA-binding partner Scalloped (Sd) - this forces the eye to transform into a wing. Reductions of other Polycomb Group members alone do not phenocopy this transformation. However, knocking down Sex comb on midleg (Scm) or Scm-related gene containing four mbt domains (Sfmbt) alongside the Pax6 gene twin of eyeless (toy) enables the eye-to-wing transformation. Using high throughput sequencing we show that toy-Sfmbt and toy-Scm knockdowns alter expression of both wing selector and Hox genes. These findings provide new insights into how the fate of the eye is specified.
在后生动物发育过程中，染色质可塑性和基因调控紧密相连，以建立适当的组织命运和模式。果蝇成虫盘是研究这些过程的优秀模型，因为遗传损伤和机械损伤都能在再生过程中改变其命运。降低多梳蛋白（Pc）的表达会导致翅选择基因残翅（vg）的异位激活，进而与它的DNA结合伴侣扇贝蛋白（Sd）相互作用——这会迫使眼睛转变为翅膀。单独降低其他多梳蛋白家族成员的表达并不会模拟这种转变。然而，在敲低无眼基因（ey）的同源基因双无眼（toy）的同时，敲低中腿性梳（Scm）或含有四个mbt结构域的Scm相关基因（Sfmbt），则会使眼睛转变为翅膀。通过高通量测序，我们发现敲低toy-Sfmbt和toy-Scm会改变翅选择基因和Hox基因的表达。这些发现为眼睛命运的指定方式提供了新的见解。
