Drosophila CtBP regulates proliferation and differentiation of eye precursors and complexes with Eyeless, Dachshund, Dan, and Danr during eye and antennal development.

Specification factors regulate cell fate in part by interacting with transcriptional co-regulators like CtBP to regulate gene expression. Here, we demonstrate that CtBP forms a complex or complexes with the Drosophila melanogaster Pax6 homolog Eyeless (Ey), and with Distal antenna (Dan), Distal antenna related (Danr), and Dachshund to promote eye and antennal specification. Phenotypic analysis together with molecular data indicate that CtBP interacts with Ey to prevent overproliferation of eye precursors.