TY - JOUR
T1 - Regional modulation of a stochastically expressed factor determines photoreceptor subtypes in the drosophila retina
AU - Thanawala, Shivani U.
AU - Rister, Jens
AU - Goldberg, Gregory W.
AU - Zuskov, Andrey
AU - Olesnicky, Eugenia C.
AU - Flowers, Jonathan M.
AU - Jukam, David
AU - Purugganan, Michael D.
AU - Gavis, Elizabeth R.
AU - Desplan, Claude
AU - Johnston, Robert J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are very grateful to S. Britt, S. Crews, I. Duncan, Y.N. Jan, C. Zuker, and the Bloomington Stock Center for reagents. We thank Cleopatra Tsanis and Terry Blackman for technical assistance. S.U.T., G.W.G., and A.Z. were supported by NYU Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund Grants. J.R. was supported by EMBO long-term fellowship ALTF 462-2008. E.C.O. was supported by NIH postdoctoral fellowship F32 HD056779. J.M.F. and M.D.P. were supported by the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute and the NSF Plant Genome Research Program. D.J. was supported by an NYU Dean’s Dissertation Award. E.R.G. was supported by NIH R01 GM061107. C.D. was supported by NIH R01 EY13010. R.J.J., Jr. was supported by a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research postdoctoral fellowship.
PY - 2013/4/15
Y1 - 2013/4/15
N2 - Stochastic mechanisms are sometimes utilized to diversify cell fates, especially in nervous systems. In the Drosophila retina, stochastic expression of the PAS-bHLH transcription factor Spineless (Ss) controls photoreceptor subtype choice. In one randomly distributed subset of R7 photoreceptors, Ss activates Rhodopsin4 (Rh4) and represses Rhodopsin3 (Rh3); counterparts lacking Ss express Rh3 and repress Rh4. In the dorsal third region of the retina, the Iroquois Complex transcription factors induce Rh3 in Rh4-expressing R7s. Here, we show that Ss levels are controlled in a binary on/off manner throughout the retina yet are attenuated in the dorsal third region to allow Rh3 coexpression with Rh4. Whereas the sensitivity of rh3 repression to differences in Ss levels generates stochastic and regionalized patterns, the robustness of rh4 activation ensures its stochastic expression throughout the retina. Our findings show how stochastic and regional inputs are integrated to control photoreceptor subtype specification in the Drosophila retina.
AB - Stochastic mechanisms are sometimes utilized to diversify cell fates, especially in nervous systems. In the Drosophila retina, stochastic expression of the PAS-bHLH transcription factor Spineless (Ss) controls photoreceptor subtype choice. In one randomly distributed subset of R7 photoreceptors, Ss activates Rhodopsin4 (Rh4) and represses Rhodopsin3 (Rh3); counterparts lacking Ss express Rh3 and repress Rh4. In the dorsal third region of the retina, the Iroquois Complex transcription factors induce Rh3 in Rh4-expressing R7s. Here, we show that Ss levels are controlled in a binary on/off manner throughout the retina yet are attenuated in the dorsal third region to allow Rh3 coexpression with Rh4. Whereas the sensitivity of rh3 repression to differences in Ss levels generates stochastic and regionalized patterns, the robustness of rh4 activation ensures its stochastic expression throughout the retina. Our findings show how stochastic and regional inputs are integrated to control photoreceptor subtype specification in the Drosophila retina.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.devcel.2013.02.016
DO - 10.1016/j.devcel.2013.02.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 23597484
AN - SCOPUS:84876371969
SN - 1534-5807
VL - 25
SP - 93
EP - 105
JO - Developmental cell
JF - Developmental cell
IS - 1
ER -