Abstract
THE metameric pattern of the Drosophila embryo is regulated by a combination of maternal and zygotic genes. The segment-polarity class of genes are required for the correct patterning within each segmental unit. Mutations in any one of these genes results in deletions and duplications of parts of each segment1. The segment-polarity genes act coordinately by means of local cellular interactions to assign and maintain an identity for each cell in the segment, and to establish segment boundaries2–5. Here we describe the molecular characterization of a novel segment-polarity gene, zeste-white3 (zw3). Embryos derived from germ lines that are homozygous for zw3 mutations (zw3 embryos) have phenotypes similar to embryos that are mutant for the segment-polarity gene naked (nkd)6. These embryos lack most of the ventral denticles, which are differentiated structures derived from the most anterior region of each segment. We have isolated the zw3 gene and compared the structure of one maternal and one zygotic transcript encoded by the gene. The zw3 gene is unique among the segment-polarity genes so far characterized, in that it encodes proteins that have homology to serine–threonine protein kinases. This indicates that ZW3 may play a part in a signal transduction pathway involved in the establishment of cell identity within each embryonic segment.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nusslein-Volhard, C. & Wieschaus, E. Nature 287, 795–801 (1980).
Martinez-Arias, A., Baker, N. E. & Ingham, P. W. Development 103, 157–170 (1988).
DiNardo, S., Sher, E., Heemskerk-Jongens, J., Kassis, J. A. & O'Farrell, P. H. Nature 332, 604–609 (1988).
Hooper, J. E. & Scott, M. P. Cell 59, 751–765 (1989).
Nakano, Y., Guerrero, I., Hidalgo, A., Taylor, A., Whittle, J. R. S. & Ingham, P. W. Nature 341, 508–573 (1989).
Perrimon, N. & Smouse, D. Devl Biol 135, 287–305 (1989).
Reddy, P. et al. Cell 38, 701–710 (1984).
Judd, B. H., Shen, M. W. & Kaufman, T. C. Genetics 71, 139–156 (1972).
Caudy, M., Vassin, H., Brand, M., Tuma, R., Jan, L. Y. & Jan, Y. N. Cell 55, 1061–1067 (1988).
Zinn, K., McAllister, L. & Goodman, C. S. Cell 53, 577–587 (1988).
Cavener, D. R. Nucleic Acids Res. 15, 1353–1361 (1987).
Birnstiel, M. L., Busslinger, M. & Strub, K. Cell 41, 349–359 (1985).
Shapiro, M. B. & Senapathy, P. Nucleic Acids Res. 15, 7155–7174 (1987).
Hanks, S. K., Quinn, A. M. & Hunter, T. Science 241, 42–52 (1988).
Hindeley, J. & Phear, G. A. Gene 31, 129–134 (1984).
Lee, M. G. & Nurse, P. Nature 327, 31–35 (1987).
Lorincz, A. T. & Reed, S. I. Nature 307, 183–185 (1984).
Hanks, S. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 388–392 (1987).
Beach, D., Durkacz, B. & Nurse, P. Nature 300, 706–709 (1981).
Booher, R. & Beach, D. Molec. cell. Biol. 6, 3523–3530 (1986).
Simpson, P., El Messal, M., Moscoso del Prado, J. & Ripoll, P. Development 103, 391–401 (1988).
Blackman, R., Grimaila, R., Koehler, M. & Gelbart, W. Cell 49, 497–505 (1987).
Maniatis, T., Fritsch, E. F. & Sambrook, J. in Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, 1982).
Gall, J. G. & Pardue, M. L. Meth. Enzym. 21, 470–480 (1971).
Langer-Sofer, P. R., Levine, M. & Ward, D. C. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 4381–4385 (1982).
Hafen, E., Kuroiwa, A. & Gehring, W. J. Cell 37, 833–841 (1984).
Sanger, F., Nicklen, S. & Coulson, A. R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 5463–5467 (1977).
Mark, G. E., MacIntyre, R. J., Digan, M. E., Ambrosio, L. & Perrimon, N. Molec. cell. Biol. 7, 2134–2140 (1987).
Nishida, Y. et al. EMBO J. 7, 775–781 (1988).
Devereux, J., Haeberli, M. & Smithies, O. Nucleic Acids Res. 12, 387–395 (1984).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Siegfried, E., Perkins, L., Capaci, T. et al. Putative protein kinase product of the Drosophila segment-polarity gene zeste-white3. Nature 345, 825–829 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/345825a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/345825a0
This article is cited by
-
Planarian GSK3s are involved in neural regeneration
Development Genes and Evolution (2008)
-
Effects of lithium chloride on outward potassium currents in acutely isolated hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons
Chinese Science Bulletin (2006)
-
Requirement for glycogen synthase kinase-3β in cell survival and NF-κB activation
Nature (2000)
-
Inflorescence-specific expression of AtK-1, a novel Arabidopsis thaliana homologue of shaggy/glycogen synthase kinase-3
Plant Molecular Biology (1995)
-
dishevelled and armadillo act in the Wingless signalling pathway in Drosophila
Nature (1994)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.