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Fly Eye (fly + eye)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Life Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Fly Six-type homeodomain proteins Sine oculis and Optix partner with different cofactors during eye development

DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 3 2005
Kristy L. Kenyon
Abstract Two members from the Six class of homeobox transcription factors, Sine oculis (SO) and Optix, function during development of the fly visual system. Differences in gain-of-function phenotypes and gene expression suggest that these related factors play distinct roles in the formation of the fly eye. However, the molecular nature of their functional differences remains unclear. In this study, we report the identification of two novel factors that participate in specific partnerships with Sine oculis and Optix during photoreceptor neurons formation and in eye progenitor cells. This work shows that different cofactors likely mediate unique functions of Sine oculis and Optix during the development of the fly eye and that the repeated requirement for SO function at multiple stages of eye development reflects the activity of different SO,cofactor complexes. Developmental Dynamics 234:497,504, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Growth and specification: fly Pax6 homologs eyegone and eyeless have distinct functions

BIOESSAYS, Issue 6 2004
Aloma B. Rodrigues
Development requires not only the correct specification of organs and cell types in the right places (pattern), but also the control of their size and shape (growth). Many signaling pathways control both pattern and growth and how these two are distinguished has been something of a mystery. In the fly eye, a Pax6 homolog (eyeless) controls eye specification together with several other genes. Now Dominguez et al.1 show that Notch signaling controls eye growth through a second Pax6 protein (Eyegone). In mice and humans the single Pax6 gene appears to encode both specification and growth controlling proteins through alternative mRNA splicing. BioEssays 26:600,603, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Spam and the evolution of the fly's eye

BIOESSAYS, Issue 2 2007
Daniel Osorio
The open rhabdoms of the fly's eye enhance absolute sensitivity but to avoid compromising spatial acuity they require precise optical geometry and neural connections.1 This neural superposition system evolved from the ancestral insect eye, which has fused rhabdoms. A recent paper by Zelhof and co-workers2 shows that the Drosophila gene spacemaker (spam) is necessary for development of open rhabdoms, and suggests that mutants revert to an ancestral state. Here I outline how open rhabdoms and neural superposition may have evolved via nocturnal intermediates, and discuss the implications for the role of spam in insect phylogeny. BioEssays 29: 111,115, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]