Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines
The retinal determination genetic network controls the development of the visual system in all seeing animals through the molecular regulation of cells to adopt an eye tissue fate. The compound eye of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is an excellent model system to study the complex mechanism...
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The Royal Society
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Open Biology |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.250012 |
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| author | Robert A. Drewell Jacqueline M. Dresch |
| author_facet | Robert A. Drewell Jacqueline M. Dresch |
| author_sort | Robert A. Drewell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The retinal determination genetic network controls the development of the visual system in all seeing animals through the molecular regulation of cells to adopt an eye tissue fate. The compound eye of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is an excellent model system to study the complex mechanisms within the network that regulate specification of cellular identity during embryogenesis. In Drosophila, the two Pax6 paralogues, eyeless and twin of eyeless, sit at the very pinnacle of the network and their expression early in development activates critical downstream components of the retinal determination pathway. In this study, we investigate the expression of 21 known components of the network in two established embryonic cell lines, Kc167 and S2 cells, that show reciprocal expression patterns for the two Pax6 paralogues. Network mapping reveals that many of the components of the network demonstrate extensive interactions with additional factors. Integrating the transcriptional profile of the cell lines, interaction maps and embryonic expression patterns enables us to identify 16 potential novel components of the genetic network, 11 of which are transcription factors. We confirm the regulatory potential for a subset of the novel transcription factors through the identification of predicted binding sites in previously characterized enhancers for the core genes in the network. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9522a285cf0a42649c49b8049285a8da |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2046-2441 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-9522a285cf0a42649c49b8049285a8da2025-08-20T03:09:16ZengThe Royal SocietyOpen Biology2046-24412025-07-0115710.1098/rsob.250012Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell linesRobert A. Drewell0Jacqueline M. Dresch1Department of Biology, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USADepartment of Biology, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USAThe retinal determination genetic network controls the development of the visual system in all seeing animals through the molecular regulation of cells to adopt an eye tissue fate. The compound eye of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is an excellent model system to study the complex mechanisms within the network that regulate specification of cellular identity during embryogenesis. In Drosophila, the two Pax6 paralogues, eyeless and twin of eyeless, sit at the very pinnacle of the network and their expression early in development activates critical downstream components of the retinal determination pathway. In this study, we investigate the expression of 21 known components of the network in two established embryonic cell lines, Kc167 and S2 cells, that show reciprocal expression patterns for the two Pax6 paralogues. Network mapping reveals that many of the components of the network demonstrate extensive interactions with additional factors. Integrating the transcriptional profile of the cell lines, interaction maps and embryonic expression patterns enables us to identify 16 potential novel components of the genetic network, 11 of which are transcription factors. We confirm the regulatory potential for a subset of the novel transcription factors through the identification of predicted binding sites in previously characterized enhancers for the core genes in the network.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.250012Drosophilatwin of eyelesseyelessgene networkretinal determination |
| spellingShingle | Robert A. Drewell Jacqueline M. Dresch Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines Open Biology Drosophila twin of eyeless eyeless gene network retinal determination |
| title | Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines |
| title_full | Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines |
| title_fullStr | Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines |
| title_short | Identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in Drosophila cell lines |
| title_sort | identification of novel components of the retinal determination gene network in drosophila cell lines |
| topic | Drosophila twin of eyeless eyeless gene network retinal determination |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.250012 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertadrewell identificationofnovelcomponentsoftheretinaldeterminationgenenetworkindrosophilacelllines AT jacquelinemdresch identificationofnovelcomponentsoftheretinaldeterminationgenenetworkindrosophilacelllines |