Gómez-Skarmeta J L, Glavic A, de la Calle-Mustienes E, Modolell J, Mayor R
Laboratorio de Biología del Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile.
EMBO J. 1998 Jan 2;17(1):181-90. doi: 10.1093/emboj/17.1.181.
The Drosophila homeoproteins Ara and Caup are members of a combination of factors (prepattern) that control the highly localized expression of the proneural genes achaete and scute. We have identified two Xenopus homologs of ara and caup, Xiro1 and Xiro2. Similarly to their Drosophila counterparts, they control the expression of proneural genes and, probably as a consequence, the size of the neural plate. Moreover, Xiro1 and Xiro2 are themselves controlled by noggin and retinoic acid and, similarly to ara and caup, they are overexpressed by expression in Xenopus embryos of the Drosophila cubitus interruptus gene. These and other findings suggest the conservation of at least part of the genetic cascade that regulates proneural genes, and the existence in vertebrates of a prepattern of factors important to control the differentiation of the neural plate.
果蝇同源异型蛋白Ara和Caup是一组控制原神经基因achaete和scute高度局部化表达的因子（前模式）组合的成员。我们已经鉴定出ara和caup的两个非洲爪蟾同源物，即Xiro1和Xiro2。与它们在果蝇中的对应物相似，它们控制原神经基因的表达，并且可能因此控制神经板的大小。此外，Xiro1和Xiro2本身受头蛋白和视黄酸的调控，并且与ara和caup相似，它们在果蝇间断翅脉基因在非洲爪蟾胚胎中的表达时会过度表达。这些以及其他发现表明，至少部分调节原神经基因的遗传级联是保守的，并且在脊椎动物中存在对控制神经板分化很重要的因子前模式。
