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A conserved system for dorsal-ventral patterning in insects and vertebrates involving sog and chordin

Nature volume 376, pages 249–253 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

DORSAL-VENTRAL patterning within the ectoderm of the Drosophila embryo requires seven zygotic genes, including short gastrulation (sog)1. Here we demonstrate that sog, which is expressed in the ventrolateral region of the embryo that gives rise to the nerve cord2, is functionally homologous to the chordin gene of Xenopus, which is expressed in the dorsal blastopore lip of the embryo and in dorsal mesoderm, in particular the notochord3. We show by injections of messenger RNA that both sog and chordin can promote ventral development in Drosophila, and that sog, like chordin3, can promote dorsal development in Xenopus. In Drosophila, sog antagonizes the dorsalizing effects of decapentaplegic (dpp)1,2,4, a member of the transforming growth factor-β family. One of the dpp homologues in vertebrates, bmp-4, is expressed ventrally in Xenopus5 and promotes ventral development6,7. We show that dpp can promote ventral fates in Xenopus, and that injection of sog mRNA counteracts the ventralizing effects of dpp. These results suggest the molecular conservation of dorsoventral patterning mechanisms during evolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, 920 East 58th Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60637, USA

    Scott A. Holley & Edwin L. Ferguson

  2. McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research and Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    P. David Jackson & F. Michael Hoffmann

  3. Department of Biological Chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90024, USA

    Yoshiki Sasai, Bin Lu & Eddy M. De Robertis

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  1. Scott A. Holley
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  6. F. Michael Hoffmann
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  7. Edwin L. Ferguson
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Holley, S., Jackson, P., Sasai, Y. et al. A conserved system for dorsal-ventral patterning in insects and vertebrates involving sog and chordin. Nature 376, 249–253 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376249a0

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