Click here to close
Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly.
We suggest using a current version of Chrome,
FireFox, or Safari.
???displayArticle.abstract???
Insect and vertebrate eyes differ in their formation, cellular composition, neural connectivity, and visual function. Despite this diversity, Drosophila atona and its vertebrate Ortholog in the eye, Ath5, each regulate determination of the first retinal neuron class-R8 photo-receptors and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs)-in their respective organisms. We have performed a cross-species functional comparison of these genes. In ato mutant Drosophila, ectopic Xenopus Ath5 (Xath5) rescues photoreceptor cell development comparably with atonaI. In contrast, mouse Ath5 (Math5) induces formation of very few ommatidia, and most of these lack R8 cells. In the developing frog eye, ectopic atonal, like Xath5, promotes the differentiation RGCs. Despite strong conservation of atonaI, Xath5, and Math5 structure and shared function, other factors must contribute to the species specificity of retinal neuron determination. These observations suggest that the atonaI family may occupy a position in a gene hierarchy where differences in gene regulation or function can be correlated with evolutionary diversity of eye development.
???displayArticle.pubmedLink???
12950631
???displayArticle.pmcLink???PMC2262842 ???displayArticle.link???Evol Dev ???displayArticle.grants???[+]
Abouheif,
Developmental genetics and homology: a hierarchical approach.
1997, Pubmed
Abouheif,
Developmental genetics and homology: a hierarchical approach.
1997,
Pubmed
Arendt,
Reconstructing the eyes of Urbilateria.
2001,
Pubmed
Baker,
Spacing differentiation in the developing Drosophila eye: a fibrinogen-related lateral inhibitor encoded by scabrous.
1990,
Pubmed
Ben-Arie,
Functional conservation of atonal and Math1 in the CNS and PNS.
2000,
Pubmed
Brand,
Targeted gene expression as a means of altering cell fates and generating dominant phenotypes.
1993,
Pubmed
Brown,
Math5 encodes a murine basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor expressed during early stages of retinal neurogenesis.
1998,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Brown,
Molecular characterization and mapping of ATOH7, a human atonal homolog with a predicted role in retinal ganglion cell development.
2002,
Pubmed
Brown,
hairy gene function in the Drosophila eye: normal expression is dispensable but ectopic expression alters cell fates.
1991,
Pubmed
Brown,
Math5 is required for retinal ganglion cell and optic nerve formation.
2001,
Pubmed
Cagan,
The bride of sevenless and sevenless interaction: internalization of a transmembrane ligand.
1992,
Pubmed
Callaerts,
Isolation and expression of a Pax-6 gene in the regenerating and intact Planarian Dugesia(G)tigrina.
1999,
Pubmed
Callaerts,
PAX-6 in development and evolution.
1997,
Pubmed
Chien,
Neuronal type information encoded in the basic-helix-loop-helix domain of proneural genes.
1996,
Pubmed
Chow,
Pax6 induces ectopic eyes in a vertebrate.
1999,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Dokucu,
Atonal, rough and the resolution of proneural clusters in the developing Drosophila retina.
1996,
Pubmed
Easter,
Let there be sight.
2000,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Frankfort,
R8 development in the Drosophila eye: a paradigm for neural selection and differentiation.
2002,
Pubmed
Gehring,
Pax 6: mastering eye morphogenesis and eye evolution.
1999,
Pubmed
Glardon,
Isolation and developmental expression of the amphioxus Pax-6 gene (AmphiPax-6): insights into eye and photoreceptor evolution.
1998,
Pubmed
Halder,
Induction of ectopic eyes by targeted expression of the eyeless gene in Drosophila.
1995,
Pubmed
Hassan,
Doing the MATH: is the mouse a good model for fly development?
2000,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Holt,
Lipofection of cDNAs in the embryonic vertebrate central nervous system.
1990,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Hsiung,
Retinal development in Drosophila: specifying the first neuron.
2002,
Pubmed
Jarman,
Role of the proneural gene, atonal, in formation of Drosophila chordotonal organs and photoreceptors.
1995,
Pubmed
Jarman,
Developmental genetics: vertebrates and insects see eye to eye.
2000,
Pubmed
Jarman,
atonal is a proneural gene that directs chordotonal organ formation in the Drosophila peripheral nervous system.
1993,
Pubmed
Jarman,
Atonal is the proneural gene for Drosophila photoreceptors.
1994,
Pubmed
Kammandel,
Distinct cis-essential modules direct the time-space pattern of the Pax6 gene activity.
1999,
Pubmed
Kanekar,
Xath5 participates in a network of bHLH genes in the developing Xenopus retina.
1997,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Kay,
Retinal ganglion cell genesis requires lakritz, a Zebrafish atonal Homolog.
2001,
Pubmed
Kim,
XATH-1, a vertebrate homolog of Drosophila atonal, induces a neuronal differentiation within ectodermal progenitors.
1997,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Kimmel,
The homeo domain protein rough is expressed in a subset of cells in the developing Drosophila eye where it can specify photoreceptor cell subtype.
1990,
Pubmed
Kumar,
Eye specification in Drosophila: perspectives and implications.
2001,
Pubmed
Lee,
The scabrous gene encodes a secreted glycoprotein dimer and regulates proneural development in Drosophila eyes.
1996,
Pubmed
Liu,
The Ath5 proneural genes function upstream of Brn3 POU domain transcription factor genes to promote retinal ganglion cell development.
2001,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Loosli,
Six3, a medaka homologue of the Drosophila homeobox gene sine oculis is expressed in the anterior embryonic shield and the developing eye.
1998,
Pubmed
Loosli,
Isolation of a Pax-6 homolog from the ribbonworm Lineus sanguineus.
1996,
Pubmed
Marquardt,
Pax6 is required for the multipotent state of retinal progenitor cells.
2001,
Pubmed
Mlodzik,
Isolation and expression of scabrous, a gene regulating neurogenesis in Drosophila.
1990,
Pubmed
Moore,
Posttranslational mechanisms control the timing of bHLH function and regulate retinal cell fate.
2002,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Neumann,
Patterning of the zebrafish retina by a wave of sonic hedgehog activity.
2000,
Pubmed
Oliver,
Six3, a murine homologue of the sine oculis gene, demarcates the most anterior border of the developing neural plate and is expressed during eye development.
1995,
Pubmed
O'Neill,
The activities of two Ets-related transcription factors required for Drosophila eye development are modulated by the Ras/MAPK pathway.
1994,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Sharman,
Some new terms for duplicated genes.
1999,
Pubmed
Sun,
Ectopic scute induces Drosophila ommatidia development without R8 founder photoreceptors.
2000,
Pubmed
Tomarev,
Squid Pax-6 and eye development.
1997,
Pubmed
Turner,
Expression of achaete-scute homolog 3 in Xenopus embryos converts ectodermal cells to a neural fate.
1994,
Pubmed
,
Xenbase
Vetter,
The role of basic helix-loop-helix genes in vertebrate retinogenesis.
2001,
Pubmed
Wang,
Requirement for math5 in the development of retinal ganglion cells.
2001,
Pubmed
Wang,
Drosophila atonal fully rescues the phenotype of Math1 null mice: new functions evolve in new cellular contexts.
2002,
Pubmed
Xu,
Mouse Eya homologues of the Drosophila eyes absent gene require Pax6 for expression in lens and nasal placode.
1997,
Pubmed
Xu,
Regulation of Pax6 expression is conserved between mice and flies.
1999,
Pubmed
Yang,
Requirement of Math1 for secretory cell lineage commitment in the mouse intestine.
2001,
Pubmed
