Abstract
Muscle founder cells are uniquely specified cells that fuse with neighboring myoblasts to generate the complex pattern of body wall muscles in the Drosophila embryo. We have investigated the positional specification of founder cells for ventral oblique muscles, marked by the restricted expression of tinman RNA and the activity of a D-mef2 enhancer. The formation of these ventral myoblasts requires the function of the Heartless FGF receptor in the mesoderm and the presence of ventral neuroblasts in the central nervous system. Overproduction of ventral neuroblasts due to the forced expression of the homeodomain protein Vnd leads to increased numbers of founder cells. These results suggest the use of a neuroectoderm-to-mesoderm signaling pathway in the specification of ventral muscle precursors.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Y Kim for providing the tin cDNA clone, M Baylies, A Michelson, J Weiss, K White and the Bloomington Stock Center for sending fly strains, and B Paterson and the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank for providing antibodies. We also thank G Kovalick for advice on the in situ hybridization technique and K Hensley for assistance with figures. This research was supported by grants from the Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Institutes of Health (HL59151), and National Science Foundation (IBN 9722863) to RA Schulz.
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Schulz, R., Gajewski, K. Ventral neuroblasts and the Heartless FGF receptor are required for muscle founder cell specification in Drosophila. Oncogene 18, 6818–6823 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1203081
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1203081