Development is buffered against unpredictable environmental and genetic effects. Here, a molecular genetic analysis of one type of developmental homeostasis, the establishment of thoracic segmental identity under the control of the Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene in Drosophila melanogaster, is presented. Flies were artificially selected for differential sensitivity to the induction of bithorax phenocopies by ether vapor. The experiments demonstrated that increased sensitivity to ether correlated with a loss of expression of UBX in the third thoracic imaginal discs and that a significant proportion of the genetic variation for transcriptional stability can be attributed to polymorphism in the Ubx gene.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.271.5246.200 | DOI Listing |
Methods Mol Biol
January 2025
Department of Medical Physiology, Texas A&M University, Bryan, TX, USA.
The ability to add bioactivities, such as cell signaling or ligand recognition, to biomaterials has generated the potential to include multiple bioactivities into a single material. In some cases, it is desirable to localize these activities to different areas of the biomaterial, creating functional patterns. While photolithography and 3D printing have been effective techniques for patterning functions in many materials, patterning remains a challenge in materials composed of protein, in part due to how these materials are artificially assembled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutophagy
January 2025
Institute for Experimental Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Lysosomes are the major cellular organelles responsible for nutrient recycling and degradation of cellular material. Maintenance of lysosomal integrity is essential for cellular homeostasis and lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) sensitizes toward cell death. Damaged lysosomes are repaired or degraded via lysophagy, during which glycans, exposed on ruptured lysosomal membranes, are recognized by galectins leading to K48- and K63-linked poly-ubiquitination (poly-Ub) of lysosomal proteins followed by recruitment of the macroautophagic/autophagic machinery and degradation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Dev Biol
December 2024
Developmental Biology, Heidelberg University, COS, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Gene regulation depends on the interaction between chromatin-associated factors, such as transcription factors (TFs), which promote chromatin loops to ensure tight contact between enhancer and promoter regions. So far, positive interactions that lead to gene activation have been the main focus of research, but regulations related to blocking or inhibiting factor binding are also essential to maintaining a defined cellular status. To understand these interactions in greater detail, I investigated the possibility of the muscle differentiation factor Mef2 to prevent early Hox factor binding, leading to the proper timing of regulatory processes and the activation of differentiation events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDev Biol
February 2025
Entomology Department and Graduate Program in Molecular & Cell Biology, 4291 Fieldhouse Drive, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
The discovery that homeotic genes in Drosophila are conserved and utilized for embryonic development throughout the animal kingdom, including humans, revolutionized the fields of developmental biology and evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). In a pair of back-to-back papers published in Cell in 1984, researchers at the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland, showed that the homeobox - previously identified as a sequence shared by homeotic genes in Drosophila - was also present in the genome of diverse animals. The first paper (McGinnis et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroPubl Biol
October 2024
Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland.
Dominant gain-of-function alleles for the homeotic gene ( ) have been known for a long time. They are summarized under the name ( ). Such alleles are rather easy to spot because the morphology of the conspicuous dorsal wing appendage is often dramatically changed.
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