Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

A deficiency of the homeotic complex of the beetle Tribolium

Nature volume 350, pages 72–74 (1991)Cite this article

Abstract

IN Drosophila, the establishment of regional commitments along most of the anterior/posterior axis of the developing embryo depends on two clusters of homeotic genes: the Antennapedia complex (ANT-C) and the bithorax complex (BX-C). The red flour beetle has a single complex (HOM-C) representing the homologues of the ANT-C and BX-C in juxtaposition1. Beetles frans-heterozygous for two particular HOM-C mutations spontaneously generate a large deficiency, presumably by an exchange within the common region of two overlapping inversions. Genetic and molecular results indicate that this deficiency spans at least the interval between the Deformed and abdominal-A homologues. In deficiency homozygous embryos, all gnathal, thoracic and abdominal segments develop antennal appendages, suggesting that a gene(s) has been deleted that acts to distinguish trunk from head. There is no evidence that beetles have a homologue of the segmentation gene fushi tarazu of similar genomic location and function. On the basis of the genetic tractability2, convenient genome size and organization of Tribolium3, and its relatively long phylogenetic divergence from Drosophila (≫300 million years), we have integrated developmental genetic and molecular analyses of the HOM-C. We isolated about 70 mutations in the complex representing at least six complementation groups. The homeotic phenotypes of adults2 and lethal embryos lead us to believe that these beetle genes are homologous with the Drosophila genes indicated in Fig. 1.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Beeman, R. W. Nature 327, 247–249 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Beeman, R. W., Stuart, J. J., Haas, M. S. & Denell, R. E. Devl Biol. 133, 196–209 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Brown, S. J., Henry, J. K., Black, W. C. IV & Denell, R. E. Insect Biochem. 20, 185–193 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sturtevant, A. H. & Beadle, G. Genetics 21, 554–604 (1936).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Chadwick, R. & McGinnis, W. EMBO J. 6, 779–789 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mahaffey, J. W., Diederich, R. J. & Kaufman, T. C. Development 105, 167–174 (1989).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Merrill, V. K. L., Turner, F. R. & Kaufman, T. C. Devl Biol. 122, 379–395 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Regulski, M., McGinnis, N., Chadwick, R. & McGinnis, W. EMBO J. 6, 767–777 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Struhl, G. Nature 292, 635–638 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Martinez-Arias, A. EMBO J. 5, 135–141 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lewis, E. Nature 276, 141–152 (1978).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Akam, M., Dawson, I. & Tear, G. Development 104 (Suppl.), 123–133 (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Scott, M. P., Tamkun, J. W. & Hartzell, G. W. III. Biochim. biophys. Acta 989, 25–48 (1989).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Weiner, A. J., Scott, M. P. & Kaufman, T. C. Cell 37, 843–851 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Winslow, G. M., Hayashi, S., Krasnow, M., Hogness, D. S. & Scott, M. P. Cell 57, 1017–1030 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Wakimoto, B. T. & Kaufman, T. C. Devl Biol. 81, 51–64 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Nüsslein-Volhard, C., Kluding, H. & Jürgens, G. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 50, 145–154 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Carroll, S. B. Cell 60, 9–16 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Duncan, I. Cell 47, 297–309 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Ingham, P. W. & Martinez-Arias, A. Nature 324, 592–597 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Doe C. Q., Hiromi, Y., Gehring, W. J. & Goodman, C. S. Science 239, 170–175 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Walldorf, U., Fleig, R. & Gehring, W. J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 86, 9971–9975 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Mahaffey, J. W. & Kaufman, T. C. in Developmental Genetics of Higher Organisms: A Primer in Developmental Biology (ed. Malacinski, G. M.) 329–360 (Macmillan, New York, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Duncan, I. A. Rev. Genet 21, 285–319 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jeffrey J. Stuart

    Present address: Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA

  2. Susan J. Brown and Robin E. Denell: Division of Biology, Ackert Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA

  3. Robin E. Denell: To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA, ARS, US Grain Marketing Research Laboratory, 1515 College Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas, 66502, USA

    Jeffrey J. Stuart, Susan J. Brown, Richard W. Beeman & Robin E. Denell

Authors
  1. Jeffrey J. Stuart
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susan J. Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard W. Beeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Robin E. Denell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stuart, J., Brown, S., Beeman, R. et al. A deficiency of the homeotic complex of the beetle Tribolium. Nature 350, 72–74 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350072a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350072a0

This article is cited by

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.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing