A Database of Drosophila Genes & Genomes

FB2013_03, released May 7th, 2013
 

Reference Report

Reference
Citation Wernet, M.F., Mazzoni, E.O., Celik, A., Duncan, D.M., Duncan, I., Desplan, C. (2006). Stochastic spineless expression creates the retinal mosaic for colour vision.  Nature 440(7081): 174--180. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID FBrf0191258
Publication Type Research paper
PubMed ID 16525464
PubMed Abstract Drosophila colour vision is achieved by R7 and R8 photoreceptor cells present in every ommatidium. The fly retina contains two types of ommatidia, called 'pale' and 'yellow', defined by different rhodopsin pairs expressed in R7 and R8 cells. Similar to the human cone photoreceptors, these ommatidial subtypes are distributed stochastically in the retina. The choice between pale versus yellow ommatidia is made in R7 cells, which then impose their fate onto R8. Here we report that the Drosophila dioxin receptor Spineless is both necessary and sufficient for the formation of the ommatidial mosaic. A short burst of spineless expression at mid-pupation in a large subset of R7 cells precedes rhodopsin expression. In spineless mutants, all R7 and most R8 cells adopt the pale fate, whereas overexpression of spineless is sufficient to induce the yellow R7 fate. Therefore, this study suggests that the entire retinal mosaic required for colour vision is defined by the stochastic expression of a single transcription factor, Spineless.
DOI 10.1038/nature04615
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Publication Type Journal
Abbreviation Nature
Title Nature
Publication Year 1869-
ISBN/ISSN 0028-0836
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