Characterization of a novel gene related to decapentaplegic(dpp) signaling in Drosophila wing formation. D. Jung 1,2, C. Kim 3, J. Yim 1,2. 1) School of Biological Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea; 2) National Creative Research Initiative Center for Genetic Reprogramming, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Shillim-Dong, Kwanak-Gu, Seoul, 151-742, Korea; 3) Hanwha Chemical Research R&D Center, Shinsung-Dong, Yusung-Gu, Taejon, 305-345, Korea.
dpp(decapentaplegic) is a secreted molecule that is included in the Transforming Growth Factor-b(TGF-b) family. Dpp organizes patterning in the Drosophila wing by acting as a morphogen, activating different targets via the threshold concentrations. Like other TGF-b families, Dpp appears to induce the transcription of target genes through the activation of SMAD/MAD complex. It is known that brinker(brk) downregulates the target genes of Dpp through competing the binding site with MAD/SMAD complex. The medial-to-lateral Dpp gradient along the anterior-posterior axis is complemented by a lateral-to-medial gradient of brk. Here we show that, using UAS-Gal4 system, dpp represses the expression of #752 and UAS-752 can also downregulate the expression of the dpp target gene. When the #752 is misexpressed in anterior/posterior boundary, the wing has shown the notching phenotypes. Through the mosaic analysis for MAD clones, #752 is derepressed in the MAD clones. It is suggested that enhancer trap line #752 specifies a gene that antagonizing the dpp signaling in the Drosophila wing patterning, like brk, which represses the expression of dpp target genes.