Male-specific fruitless isoforms target neurodevelopmental genes to specify a sexually dimorphic nervous system

Autor: Megan C Neville, John E. Walker, Bram Van de Sande, Tetsuya Nojima, Stephen F. Goodwin, Stein Aerts, Elizabeth A. Ashley, Steven Russell, Ana C. Marques, Darren J. Parker, Bettina Fischer, Andrea H. Brand, Michael G. Ritchie, Tony D. Southall
Přispěvatelé: Fischer, Bettina [0000-0003-2821-6287], Brand, Andrea [0000-0002-2089-6954], Russell, Steve [0000-0003-0546-3031], Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository, NERC, University of St Andrews. School of Biology, University of St Andrews. Centre for Biological Diversity, University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Gene isoform
Central Nervous System
Male
Neurogenesis
Molecular Sequence Data
Nerve Tissue Proteins
Neural circuitry
QH426 Genetics
Drosophila-melanogaster
Courtship song
Article
General Biochemistry
Genetics and Molecular Biology

Gene Knockout Techniques
Sexual Behavior
Animal

Orientation
Gene expression
Transcription factors
Transcriptional regulation
Animals
Drosophila Proteins
Protein Isoforms
Enhancer
QH426
Gene
Transcription factor
R2C
Genetics
Behavior
Sex Characteristics
Antagonistic chromatin factors
Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
biology
Base Sequence
Biochemistry
Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)

Brain
Gene Expression Regulation
Developmental

biology.organism_classification
Drosophila melanogaster
Differentiation
fruitless
Zinc-finger protein
BDC
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Transcription Factors
Zdroj: Current Biology
DOI: 10.17863/cam.21694
Popis: Summary Background In Drosophila, male courtship behavior is regulated in large part by the gene fruitless (fru). fru encodes a set of putative transcription factors that promote male sexual behavior by controlling the development of sexually dimorphic neuronal circuitry. Little is known about how Fru proteins function at the level of transcriptional regulation or the role that isoform diversity plays in the formation of a male-specific nervous system. Results To characterize the roles of sex-specific Fru isoforms in specifying male behavior, we generated novel isoform-specific mutants and used a genomic approach to identify direct Fru isoform targets during development. We demonstrate that all Fru isoforms directly target genes involved in the development of the nervous system, with individual isoforms exhibiting unique binding specificities. We observe that fru behavioral phenotypes are specified by either a single isoform or a combination of isoforms. Finally, we illustrate the utility of these data for the identification of novel sexually dimorphic genomic enhancers and novel downstream regulators of male sexual behavior. Conclusions These findings suggest that Fru isoform diversity facilitates both redundancy and specificity in gene expression, and that the regulation of neuronal developmental genes may be the most ancient and conserved role of fru in the specification of a male-specific nervous system.
Highlights • Isoform-specific fru mutants reveal both functional redundancy and specificity • Fru isoform-specific genomic occupancy is characterized in the Drosophila nervous system • All Fru isoforms directly target neuronal morphogenesis genes • Isoform-specific motifs are associated with specific Fru isoform occupancy
Neville et al. characterize the roles of sex-specific Fruitless isoforms in specifying male behavior in Drosophila by generating novel isoform-specific mutants, along with using a genomic approach to identify direct Fruitless isoform targets during development.
Databáze: OpenAIRE