Twenty-seven ZAD-ZNF genes of Drosophila melanogaster are orthologous to the embryo polarity determining mosquito gene cucoid

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 1; p. e0274716
• Main Authors: Li, Muzi, Kasan, Koray, Saha, Zinnia, Yoon, Yoseop, Schmidt-Ott, Urs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 03-01-2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Animals; Aquatic insects; Biology and Life Sciences; Butterflies & moths; Chromatin; Computer and Information Sciences; Culicidae - metabolism; Drosophila; Drosophila - metabolism; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - metabolism; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - metabolism; Embryonic development; Embryos; Fruit flies; Gene duplication; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genomes; Homeobox; Insects; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mosquitoes; Polarity; Proteins; Research and Analysis Methods; Transcription Factors - genetics; Trees; Zinc; Zinc finger proteins; Zinc Fingers - genetics; United States
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274716

The C2H2 zinc finger gene cucoid establishes anterior-posterior (AP) polarity in the early embryo of culicine mosquitoes. This gene is unrelated to genes that establish embryo polarity in other fly species (Diptera), such as the homeobox gene bicoid, which serves this function in the traditional model organism Drosophila melanogaster. The cucoid gene is a conserved single copy gene across lower dipterans but nothing is known about its function in other species, and its evolution in higher dipterans, including Drosophila, is unresolved. We found that cucoid is a member of the ZAD-containing C2H2 zinc finger (ZAD-ZNF) gene family and is orthologous to 27 of the 91 members of this family in D. melanogaster, including M1BP, ranshi, ouib, nom, zaf1, odj, Nnk, trem, Zif, and eighteen uncharacterized genes. Available knowledge of the functions of cucoid orthologs in Drosophila melanogaster suggest that the progenitor of this lineage specific expansion may have played a role in regulating chromatin. We also describe many aspects of the gene duplication history of cucoid in the brachyceran lineage of D. melanogaster, thereby providing a framework for predicting potential redundancies among these genes in D. melanogaster.