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A Toggle-Switch and a Feed-Forward Loop Engage in the Control of the Drosophila Retinal Determination Gene Network
journal contribution
posted on 2023-08-30, 14:59 authored by Máximo Sánchez-Aragón, Julia Cantisán-Gómez, Carlos M Luque, Catarina Brás-Pereira, Carla S Lopes, M Carmen Lemos, Fernando CasaresDipterans show a striking range of eye sizes, shapes, and functional specializations. Their eye is of the compound type, the most frequent eye architecture in nature. The development of this compound eye has been most studied in Drosophila melanogaster. The early development of the Drosophila eye is under the control of a gene regulatory network of transcription factors and signaling molecules called the retinal determination gene network (RDGN). Nodes in this network have been found to be involved not only in the development of different eye types in invertebrates and vertebrates, but also of other organs. Here we have analyzed the network properties in detail. First, we have generated quantitative expression profiles for a number of the key RDGN transcription factors, at a single-cell resolution. With these profiles, and applying a correlation analysis, we revisited several of the links in the RDGN. Our study uncovers a new link, that we confirm experimentally, between the transcription factors Hth/Meis1 and Optix/Six3 and indicates that, at least during the period of eye differentiation, positive feedback regulation from Eya and Dac on the Pax6 gene Ey is not operating. From this revised RDGN we derive a simplified gene network that we model mathematically. This network integrates three basic motifs: a coherent feedforward loop, a toggle-switch and a positive autoregulation which, together with the input from the Dpp/BMP2 signaling molecule, recapitulate the gene expression profiles obtained experimentally, while ensuring a robust transition from progenitor cells into retinal precursors.
History
Refereed
- Yes
Volume
7Issue number
JUNNumber of pages
14Publication title
Frontiers in Ecology and EvolutionISSN
2296-701XExternal DOI
Publisher
Frontiers Media SAFile version
- Published version
Language
- eng
Item sub-type
Journal ArticleOfficial URL
Affiliated with
- School of Life Sciences Outputs
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Categories
Keywords
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEcologyEnvironmental Sciences & Ecologyeye developmentDrosophilagene regulatory networksquantitative gene expressionmodelingcell specificationnoiseTWIN-OF-EYELESSSINE-OCULISREGULATORY NETWORKSCELL-PROLIFERATIONLEG DEVELOPMENTDUAL ROLEFLY EYEEXPRESSIONHOMOTHORAX0602 Ecology0603 Evolutionary BiologyAnimal physiological ecology