Developmental compartmentalization in the dorsal mesothoracic disc of Drosophila.

The clonal analysis of the development of the dorsal mesothoracic (wing) disc shows that clones initiated after a given time do not cross over certain demarcation lines in the adult cuticle. The property of $\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ (non-Minute) recombinant cells to overgrow the $\text{M}\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ background cells was used to demonstrate the establishment of clonal restrictions during development. It has been shown that $\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ clones initiated at a given time of development share common demarcation lines that delimit what we call “a developmental compartment.” As development time and cell proliferation of the anlage proceed, large compartments become split into pairs of smaller ones. A study of the number of cells in a given compartment at the time of its splitting into subcompartments indicates that the “developmental segregation” takes place in groups of neighboring cells and suggests that the number of segregated cells is different and characteristic for each compartment. Within a given compartment, a single clone of $\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{M}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ cells gives rise to 60–90% of the total number of adult cells. This phenomenon is reminiscent of the regulative properties of the morphogenetic fields, and the relation of these to developmental compartments is discussed. Since homoeotic mutants transform entire developmental compartments into one another, the hypothesis is advanced that homoeotic genes control compartment development.