Development of the Deformed protein pattern in the embryo of the honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera)

Summary We have raised antiserum against part of the Deformed (Dfd) protein of the honeybee and describe here the expression pattern of the Dfd protein during honeybee embryogenesis. Dfd protein is first stained in the prospective gnathal region of the cellular blastoderm. This circumferential band corresponds to the distribution of Dfd mRNA described earlier, and to the blastodermal Dfd expression pattern in Drosophila. Using an antibody against the engrailed (en) protein of Drosophila, we found that at the beginning of gastrulation Dfd expression in the honeybee, as in Drosophila, is restricted to the future intercalary, mandibular and maxillary segments. During gastrulation, the mesodermal nuclei loose the Dfd label gradually from anterior to posterior, and in the ectoderm the most posterior ventral cells loose Dfd while retaining en staining; thus, in contrast to what has been described for Drosophila, the posterior Dfd expression border seems to move forward ventrally to the parasegmental boundary within the maxillary segment. In the late germ band, the lateral tips of the Dfd-expressing band are connected across the dorsal side by a row of amnion cells with strongly staining large nuclei. After dorsal closure, a narrow stripe of Dfd-staining dorsal cells behind the neck region may indicate that the maxillary segment contributes to the dorsal body wall posterior to the head capsule. Thus, apart from some minor deviations, the Dfd expression pattern in the honeybee strongly resembles that in Drosophila prior to head involution. This is compatible with the assumption that head involution (which is a special adaption in higher dipterans) ensues after a rather conserved course of early head development in which Dfd appears to play a basic role. Offprint requests to: R. Fleig     

A genetic and developmental analysis of mutations in the Deformed locus in Drosophila melanogaster

Individuals expressing recessive mutations in the Deformed (Dfd) locus of Drosophila melanogaster were examined for embryonic and adult defects. Mutant embryos were examined in both scanning electron microscope and light microscope preparations. The adult Dfd recessive mutant phenotype was assessed in somatic clones and in survivors homozygous for hypomorphic alleles of the gene. The time of Dfd+ action was determined by studying a temperature conditional allele. Dfd+ is required in three embryonic cephalic segments to form a normal head. Mutant embryos of Dfd display defects in derivatives of the maxillary segment, of the mandibular segment, and of some more anterior segments. In the adult fly, defects are seen in the posterior aspect of the head when the gene is mutant. A transformation from head to thoracic-like tissue is seen dorsally and a deletion of structures is seen ventrally. Shift studies utilizing a temperature conditional allele have shown that the gene product is necessary during at least two periods of development, during embryonic segmentation and head involution and during the late larval and pupal stages. From these studies we conclude that Dfd is a homeotic gene necessary for proper specification of both the embryonic and the adult head.     

Loss of <Emphasis Type="Italic">spineless</Emphasis> function transforms the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tribolium</Emphasis> antenna into a thoracic leg with pretarsal,tibiotarsal, and femoral identity

The Drosophila spineless (ss) gene is regulated downstream of the appendage gene Distal-less (Dll) and is involved in leg and antenna development. Specifically, loss of ss leads to the homeotic transformation of the arista, the distalmost antennal segment, into tarsal identity, and the loss or fusion of distal leg segments. Here we show that the ss homolog from the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum also homeotically transforms the beetle antenna into leg, but the extent of the transformation is significantly larger than in Drosophila, as the entire antenna (except for the basal antennifer) is transformed into pretarsal, tibiotarsal, and femoral identity; i.e., the transformation comprises the Dll positive area in both appendages. We interpret the antennal phenotype in Tribolium as evidence for a more exclusive role of ss in antennal determination downstream of Dll in the beetle. By contrast, the fact that, in Drosophila ss mutants, only a small portion of the Dll positive area in the antenna is homeotically transformed indicates that Dll uses additional targets to govern the development of the other antennal segments in the fly.     

Autoregulation of a Drosophila homeotic selector gene

The Deformed (Dfd) gene is a homeotic selector that functions in specifying the identity of the mandibular and maxillary segments. We have constructed transformed fly strains carrying a Dfd cDNA under the heat-inducible control of the hsp70 promoter. With these strains we can induce the ectopic expression of Dfd protein in other segments at various stages of embryonic development. We find that both early and persistent synthesis of the protein is required for the transformation of other body segments toward head segmental identity. The persistent expression of the Dfd protein requires an endogenous copy of the Dfd gene, and we show that the expression of the endogenous copy can be induced by hsDfd expression. This implies that the Dfd protein autoactivates expression from the Dfd locus during normal development. The autoactivation circuit supplies a simple mechanism that can account, in part, for the stability of the determined state controlled by Dfd.     

Functional stability of the aristaless gene in appendage tip formation during evolution

The appendages of an insect are subdivided into distinct segments or podomeres. Many genes responsible for the regionalization of the growing limb into subdomains have been isolated from Drosophila. So far, only one gene is known in the leg that is solely required for specifying the distal-most pattern element—the pretarsal claw. In Drosophila, the gene aristaless is expressed in the centre of the antennal and leg imaginal disc that represents the most distal position of appendages, and in a proximal region. When Drosophila aristaless function is impaired, antennae and legs develop without their distal-most structures—the arista and the claw. We describe here the analysis of aristaless in the beetle Tribolium—an insect that shows a different, more ancestral mode of appendage formation than Drosophila. In Tribolium, appendages grow out continuously during embryogenesis, and no imaginal discs are formed. Tribolium aristaless (Tc-al) expression starts midway during appendage elongation, and is seen in a distal and a proximal position of head and trunk appendages. At the end of embryogenesis, Tc-al is seen in four expression domains in the leg, in the dorsal epidermis, and ventrally in every segment in lateral groups of cells, presumably the histoblasts. Like in the Drosophila adult, Tc-al is required in the larva for the formation of the most distal structures of the leg and the antenna as revealed by RNAi experiments. We conclude that aristaless is evolutionarily robust, meaning that it has retained its expressional and functional characteristics, although a heterochronic change of the process of appendage elongation took place towards the evolution of the highly derived diptera.Edited by D. Tautz     

The embryonic expression pattern of labial, posterior homeotic complex genes and the teashirt homologue in an apterygote insect

 During embryogenesis of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, the homeotic genes are required to specify proper cell fates along the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo. We cloned partial cDNAs of homologues of the Drosophila homeotic gene teashirt and five of the homeotic-complex (HOM-C) genes from the thysanuran insect, Thermobia domestica, and assayed their embryonic expression patterns. The HOM-C genes we examined were labial, Antennapedia, Ultrabithorax, abdominal-A and Abdominal-B. As the expression pattern of these HOM-C genes is largely conserved among insects and as Thermobia is a member of a phylogenetically basal order of insects, we were able to infer their ancestral expression patterns in insects. We compare the expression patterns of the Thermobia HOM-C genes with their expression in Drosophila and other insects and discuss the potential roles these genes may have played in insect evolution. Interestingly, the teashirt homologue shows greater variability between Thermobia and Drosophila than any of the HOM-C genes. In particular, teashirt is not expressed strongly in the Thermobia abdomen, unlike Drosophila teashirt. We propose that teashirt expression has expanded posteriorly in Drosophila and contributed to a homogenization of the Drosophila larval thorax and abdomen. Received: 23 July 1998 / Accepted: 1 November 1998     

Developmental and evolutionary implications of labial, Deformed and engrailed expression in the Drosophila head.

Prior developmental genetic analyses have shown that labial (lab) and Deformed (Dfd) are homeotic genes that function in the development of the embryonic (larval) and adult head. Using antibody probes to reveal the spatial distribution of the lab and Dfd proteins in embryonic and imaginal tissues, we have assessed the respective roles of these genes through an analysis of the correspondence of their expression patterns with their mutant phenotypes. With regard to imaginal development, lab and Dfd occupy adjacent non-overlapping expression domains in the peripodial cell layer of the eye-antennal disc, in patterns that are consistent with their adult mutant phenotypes and published fate maps. During embryogenesis, lab and Dfd exhibit limited overlapping expression in areas that are of no obvious significance to the development of larval head structures, but also in areas that may have consequences for imaginal development. The head of Drosophila and other cyclorrhaphous Dipterans is characterized by an extreme morphological difference between the larval and adult stages. Given this unique ontogenetic and phylogenetic history and the observation that homeotic transformations produced by the lab, Dfd, and proboscipedia (pb) loci are manifested only in the adult, we suggest that distinct regulatory paradigms evolved for homeotic gene function in the development of the larval versus adult head. Finally, a detailed examination of the engrailed (en) expression pattern in the embryonic head strengthens the view of insect morphologists that the clypeolabrum evolved from the fusion of paired labral appendages.     

From development to biodiversity—Tribolium castaneum, an insect model organism for short germband development

Insect embryogenesis is best understood in the fruit fly Drosophila. However, Drosophila embryogenesis shows evolutionary-derived features: anterior patterning is controlled by a highly derived Hox gene bicoid, the body segments form almost simultaneously and appendages develop from imaginal discs. In contrast, embryogenesis of the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum displays typical features in anterior patterning, axis and limb formation shared with most insects, other arthropods as well as with vertebrates. Anterior patterning depends on the conserved homeobox gene orthodenticle, the main body axis elongates sequentially and limbs grow continuously starting from an appendage bud. Thus, by analysing developmental processes in the beetle at the molecular and cellular level, inferences can be made for similar processes in other arthropods. With the completion of sequencing the Tribolium genome, the door is now open for post-genomic studies such as RNA expression profiling, proteomics and functional genomics to identify beetle-specific gene circuits.     

The effects of the glucocorticoid,dexamethasone, on the development of the Drosophila embryo

We have investigated the effects of the glucocorticoid, dexamethasone, and five structural analogs on Drosophila development in an effort to identify steroid ligands that may play a role in the embryogenesis of this organism. Embryos were exposed to glucocorticoids either by direct culture in supplemented medium, or by examining embryos from adult flies raised on supplemented fly food. After exposure, embryos were examined for developmental defects. At a morphological level, exposure to dexamethasone disrupts the dorsolateral folding of the amnioserosa during germ band extension. In addition, germ band retraction and dorsal closure is also disrupted. The phenocritical period of these effects is within the first 4 h of embryogenesis. This response is dosage sensitive, with embryos responding to concentrations of dexamethasone ranging from 10^–6 to 10^–3M. Furthermore, glucocorticoids which are closely related structural analogs of dexamethasone also disrupt germ band retraction and dorsal closure, while other tested steroids had no effect on embryonic development. At a molecular level, expression of the gene, Krüppel, is absent from the amnioserosa of dexamethasone-treated embryos. The cuticular phenocopy resulting from exposure to dexamethasone and related glucocorticoids is morphologically similar to the mutant phenotype associated with four genes required for germ band retraction, namely hindsight, serpent, tail-up and u-shaped. The results of this study represent the first association of a glucocorticoid with dose, stage and tissue specific effects on Drosophila development at both morphological and molecular levels.     

Lox6, a leech Dfd ortholog, is expressed in the central nervous system and in peripheral sensory structures

 Sequence analysis of a newly isolated Hirudo medicinalis cDNA containing an Antennapedia (Antp)-class homeobox suggests that the corresponding gene, Lox6, is an ortholog of the Drosophila Deformed (Dfd) gene. In situ hybridization of whole-mounted preparations shows that the major sites of Lox6 expression during embryogenesis are the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral sensory system. Lox6 mRNA can be detected in a subset of neurons in each ganglion from the subesophageal ganglion (RG2) to the most posterior ganglion, with the highest level of expression seen in RG3. Peripherally, Lox6 is expressed principally in the primordia of the sensillae and in the eyes. This pattern of expression of Lox6 suggests that one of its functions may be to contribute to the diversification of neuronal phenotypes. Received: 16 August 1997/Accepted: 20 December 1997     

Homeotic gene expression in the locust Schistocerca: An antibody that detects conserved epitopes in ultrabithorax and abdominal-A proteins

To investigate what role homeotic genes may play in morphological evolution, we are comparing homeotic gene expression in two very different insects, Drosophila (Diptera) and Schistocerca (Orthoptera). In this paper we describe a monoclonal antibody, FP6.87, that recognizes the products of both the Ultrabithorax (Ubx) and abdominal-A (abd-A) genes in Drosophila, via an epitope common to the carboxy terminal region of these two proteins. This antibody recognizes nuclear antigens present in the posterior thorax and abdomen of Schistocerca. We infer that it recognizes the Schistocerca homolog of UBX protein, and probably also of ABD-A. As the distribution of Schistocerca ABD-A protein is already known, we can use this reagent to map the expression of Schistocerca UBX in the thorax and anterior abdomen, where ABD-A is not expressed. Both the general domain, and many of the details, of UBX exp ression are remarkably conserved compared with Drosophila. Thus UBX expression extends back from T2 in the ectoderm (including the CNS), but only from A1 in the mesoderm. As noted for other bithorax complex genes in Schistocerca, expression begins in the abdomen, at or shortly before the time of segmentation. It only later spreads anteriorly to the thorax. For much of embryogene-sis, the expression of UBX in the thoracic epidermis is largely restricted to the T3 limb. Inthis limb, UBX is strikingly regulated, in a complex pattern that reflects limb segmentation. Reviewing these and earlier observations, we conclude that evolutionary changes affect both the precise regulation of homeotic genes within segments, and probably also the spectrum of downstream genes that respond to homeotic gene expression in a given tissue. Overall domains of homeotic gene expression appear to be well conserved between different insect groups, though a change in the extent and timing of homeotic gene expression may underlie the modification of the posterior abdomen in different insect groups. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The Tribolium ortholog of knirps and knirps-related is crucial for head segmentation but plays a minor role during abdominal patterning

Segment formation in the long germ insect Drosophila is dominated by overlapping gap gene domains in the syncytial blastoderm. In the short germ beetle Tribolium castaneum abdominal segments arise from a cellular growth zone, implying different patterning mechanisms. We describe here the single Tribolium ortholog of the Drosophila genes knirps and knirps-related (called Tc-knirps). Tc-knirps expression is conserved during head patterning and at later stages. However, posterior Tc-knirps expression in the ectoderm is limited to a stripe in A1, instead of a broad abdominal domain covering segment primordia A2-A5 as in Drosophila. Tc-knirps RNAi yields only mild defects in the abdomen, at a position posterior to the abdominal Tc-knirps domain. In addition, Tc-knirps RNAi larvae lack the antennal and mandibular segments. These defects are much more severe than the head defects caused by combined inactivation of Dm-knirps and Dm-knirps-related. Our findings support the notion that the role of gap gene homologs in abdominal segmentation differs fundamentally in long and short germ insects. Moreover, the pivotal role of Tc-knirps in the head suggests an ancestral role for knirps as head patterning gene. Based on this RNAi analysis, Tc-knirps functions neither in the head nor the abdomen as a canonical gap gene.