During development, cells of the nervous system begin as unspecified precursors and proceed along one of two developmental paths to become either neurons or glia. Work in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has established the role of the transcription factor Glial cells missing (Gcm) in directing neuronal precursor cells to assume a glial cell fate. Gcm acts on many target genes, one of which is reversed polarity (repo).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Toxicol Environ Health A
April 2015
Fish gill is the site for many crucial physiological functions. It is among the first sites of xenobiotic exposure, and gill histopathological alterations may be detected soon after toxicant exposure. Silver (Ag) is one of the most toxic metals to aquatic organisms mainly due to its ability to disrupt ionic regulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlial cells missing (Gcm) is the primary regulator of glial cell fate in Drosophila. Gcm belongs to a small family of transcriptional regulators involved in fundamental developmental processes found in diverse animal phyla including vertebrates. Gcm proteins contain the highly conserved DNA-binding GCM domain, which recognizes an octamer DNA sequence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe glial cells missing (gcm) gene has been identified as a "master regulator" of glial cell fate in the fruit fly Drosophila. However, gcm is also expressed in and required for the development of larval macrophages and tendon cells. Thus, the Gcm protein activates the transcription of different sets of genes in different developmental contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFreversed polarity (repo) is a putative target gene of glial cells missing (gcm), the primary regulator of glial cell fate in Drosophila. Transient expression of Gcm is followed by maintained expression of repo. Multiple Gcm binding sites are found in repo upstream DNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurons and glia are generated from multipotent neural progenitors. In Drosophila, the transcriptional regulation of glial vs. neuronal fates is controlled by the expression of the transcription factor encoded by the glial cells missing gene (gcm) in multiple neural lineages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Drosophila, glial cell differentiation requires the expression of glial cells missing (gcm) in multiple neural cell lineages, where gcm acts as a binary switch for glial vs. neuronal fate. Thus, the primary event controlling gliogenesis in neural progenitors is the transcription of gcm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFglial cells missing (gcm) is the primary regulator of glial cell fate in Drosophila. In addition, gcm has a role in the differentiation of the plasmatocyte/macrophage lineage of hemocytes. Since mutation of gcm causes only a decrease in plasmatocyte numbers without changing their ability to convert into macrophages, gcm cannot be the sole determinant of plasmatocyte/macrophage differentiation.
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