Drosophila microRNAs 263a/b Confer Robustness during Development by Protecting Nascent Sense Organs from Apoptosis
نویسندگان
چکیده
miR-263a/b are members of a conserved family of microRNAs that are expressed in peripheral sense organs across the animal kingdom. Here we present evidence that miR-263a and miR-263b play a role in protecting Drosophila mechanosensory bristles from apoptosis by down-regulating the pro-apoptotic gene head involution defective. Both microRNAs are expressed in the bristle progenitors, and despite a difference in their seed sequence, they share this key common target. In miR-263a and miR-263b deletion mutants, loss of bristles appears to be sporadic, suggesting that the role of the microRNAs may be to ensure robustness of the patterning process by promoting survival of these functionally specified cells. In the context of the retina, this mechanism ensures that the interommatidial bristles are protected during the developmentally programmed wave of cell death that prunes excess cells in order to refine the pattern of the pupal retina.
منابع مشابه
MicroRNAs and Developmental Robustness: A New Layer Is Revealed
It does not happen often that an entirely novel gene regulatory mechanism is revealed. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) is one such finding that revolutionized our understanding of cellular events and of the intricacy of developmental processes [1,2]. These small (,22 nucleotide), single-stranded RNA molecules act through binding in a sequence-specific manner to the 39UTR of mRNA targets, an...
متن کاملIntegration of complex larval chemosensory organs into the adult nervous system of Drosophila.
The sense organs of adult Drosophila, and holometabolous insects in general, derive essentially from imaginal discs and hence are adult specific. Experimental evidence presented here, however, suggests a different developmental design for the three largely gustatory sense organs located along the pharynx. In a comprehensive cellular analysis, we show that the posteriormost of the three organs d...
متن کاملRole of the proneural gene, atonal, in formation of Drosophila chordotonal organs and photoreceptors.
The Drosophila gene atonal encodes a basic helix-loop-helix protein similar to those encoded by the proneural genes of the achaete-scute complex (AS-C). The AS-C are required in the Drosophila PNS for the selection of neural precursors of external sense organs. We have isolated mutants of atonal, which reveal that this gene encodes the proneural gene for chordotonal organs and photoreceptors. I...
متن کاملmiR-989 Is Required for Border Cell Migration in the Drosophila Ovary
microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by destabilizing target transcripts and/or inhibiting their translation. miRNAs are thought to have roles in buffering gene expression to confer robustness. miRNAs have been shown to play important roles during tissue development to control cell proliferation, differentiation and morphogenesis. Many miRNAs are expressed ...
متن کاملDrosophila microRNAs exhibit diverse spatial expression patterns during embryonic development.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an extensive class of regulatory RNA whose specific functions in animals are generally unknown. Although computational methods have identified many potential targets of miRNAs, elucidating the spatial expression patterns of miRNAs is necessary to identify the sites of miRNA action. Here, we report the spatial patterns of miRNA transcription during Drosophila embryonic dev...
متن کامل