Fu W, Noll M
Institute for Molecular Biology, Division II, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
Genes Dev. 1997 Aug 15;11(16):2066-78. doi: 10.1101/gad.11.16.2066.
A new Drosophila Pax gene, sparkling (spa), implicated in eye development, was isolated and shown to encode the homolog of the vertebrate Pax2, Pax5, and Pax8 proteins. It is expressed in the embryonic nervous system and in cone, primary pigment, and bristle cells of larval and pupal eye discs. In spa(pol) mutants, a deletion of an enhancer abolishes Spa expression in cone and primary pigment cells and results in a severely disturbed development of non-neuronal ommatidial cells. Spa expression is further required for activation of cut in cone cells and of the Bar locus in primary pigment cells. We suggest close functional analogies between Spa and Pax2 in the development of the insect and vertebrate eye.
一个与眼睛发育相关的新果蝇Pax基因——闪亮基因（spa）被分离出来，结果显示它编码脊椎动物Pax2、Pax5和Pax8蛋白的同源物。它在胚胎神经系统以及幼虫和蛹眼盘的视锥细胞、初级色素细胞和刚毛细胞中表达。在spa(pol)突变体中，一个增强子的缺失消除了视锥细胞和初级色素细胞中的Spa表达，并导致非神经元小眼细胞的发育严重紊乱。视锥细胞中cut基因和初级色素细胞中Bar基因座的激活也进一步需要Spa表达。我们认为在昆虫和脊椎动物眼睛的发育过程中，Spa和Pax2之间存在密切的功能相似性。
