Analysis of the genes involved in organizing the tail segments of the Drosophila melanogaster embryo

• Published in: Mechanisms of development Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 3 - 13
• Main Authors: Kuhn, D.T., Turenchalk, G., Mack, J.A., Packert, G., Kornberg, T.B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-09-1995
• Subjects: Animals; Drosophila embryonic development; Drosophila melanogaster - embryology; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - physiology; Genes, Homeobox; Genes, Insect; Homeotic genes; Molecular Probes; Mutation; Tail - embryology; Tail segments; Drosophila embryonic development; Tail segments; Homeotic genes
• ISSN: 0925-4773; 1872-6356
• DOI: 10.1016/0925-4773(95)00399-1

The metameric organization of the
Drosophila melanogaster tail is obscured by developmental events that partially suppress or fuse some of its regions. To better define the developmental origins and segmental identities in the tail of the
Drosophila embryo, we documented expression patterns and mutant phenotypes of several genes that play important roles in its morphogenesis. We documented the domains of
engrailed (en),
Abdominal-B (
Abd-B) and
caudal (
cad) expression in the tail region. The staining pattern of
cut (
ct) was used to correlate the embryonic sense organs with their respective positions on the larval cuticle. The
en patterns in different Bithorax-Complex (BX-C)
Abd-B morphogenetic (
m) and regulatory (
r) mutants demonstrated that
Abd-B functions to, among other things, suppress embryonic ventral epidermal structures on the posterior side of A8 to A9. Ventral epidermal structures were not added back into the
en pattern in
r
− or BX-C
− mutants, indicating that although the BX-C functions extend through A10, other non-BX-C genes must be required for development of this segment.