Reference Report

Reference
Citation	Baumgardt, M., Miguel-Aliaga, I., Karlsson, D., Ekman, H., Thor, S. (2007). Specification of neuronal identities by feedforward combinatorial coding. PLoS Biol. 5(2): e37. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID	FBrf0195184
Publication Type	Research paper
PubMed ID	17298176
PubMed Abstract	Neuronal specification is often seen as a multistep process: earlier regulators confer broad neuronal identity and are followed by combinatorial codes specifying neuronal properties unique to specific subtypes. However, it is still unclear whether early regulators are re-deployed in subtype-specific combinatorial codes, and whether early patterning events act to restrict the developmental potential of postmitotic cells. Here, we use the differential peptidergic fate of two lineage-related peptidergic neurons in the Drosophila ventral nerve cord to show how, in a feedforward mechanism, earlier determinants become critical players in later combinatorial codes. Amongst the progeny of neuroblast 5-6 are two peptidergic neurons: one expresses FMRFamide and the other one expresses Nplp1 and the dopamine receptor DopR. We show the HLH gene collier functions at three different levels to progressively restrict neuronal identity in the 5-6 lineage. At the final step, collier is the critical combinatorial factor that differentiates two partially overlapping combinatorial codes that define FMRFamide versus Nplp1/DopR identity. Misexpression experiments reveal that both codes can activate neuropeptide gene expression in vast numbers of neurons. Despite their partially overlapping composition, we find that the codes are remarkably specific, with each code activating only the proper neuropeptide gene. These results indicate that a limited number of regulators may constitute a potent combinatorial code that dictates unique neuronal cell fate, and that such codes show a surprising disregard for many global instructive cues.
DOI	10.1371/journal.pbio.0050037
Related Publication(s)
Review	Combinatorial coding for Drosophila neurons. Jones, 2007, PLoS Biol. 5(2): e51 [FBrf0200124]
Recent Updates
Description	What does this section display? This section contains items that were added to this record for each release. It currently only tracks new links between this FlyBase report and other FlyBase data classes (e.g. genes, references, stocks) or controlled vocabulary terms (e.g. GO, anatomy terms). What does this section not display? This section does not currently display links that were removed or gene model changes.
Update Feed	Click the icon below to subscribe to this FlyBase record and receive updates automatically through your feed reader.
FB2013_03
FB2013_02
All updates	Click here to see a list of all updates to this record from FB2010_08 and on.
Associated Information
Comments
Associated Files
Other Information
Secondary IDs	FBrf0201232
Language of Publication	English
Additional Languages of Abstract
Also Published As
Parent Publication
Publication Type	Journal
Abbreviation	PLoS Biol.
Title	PLoS Biology
Publication Year	2003-
ISBN/ISSN	1545-7885 1544-9173
Data from Reference
Aberrations (4)
	Df(2L)dac-4 Df(2L)eya¹⁰ Df(2L)Rev4 Df(3R)Dl-KX23
Alleles (28)
	ap^P44 ap^Scer\UAS.cOa Avic\GFP^{EGFP.nls.Scer\UAS.T:Hsap\MYC} Avic\GFP^{Scer\UAS.T:Mmmm\c-Ha-Ras,T:Hsap\MYC} dac³ dac^Scer\UAS.cSa Dcr-2^Scer\UAS.cDa dimm^KG02598 dimm^{Scer\UAS.T:Hsap\MYC} Ecol\lacZ^ap-rK568 Ecol\lacZ^gsb-01155 Ecol\lacZ^hkb-5953 Ecol\lacZ^lb.K eya^cli-IID eya^Scer\UAS.cBb kn^col-1 kn^col-2 kn^col-3 kn^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} kn^Scer\UAS.cVa Scer\GAL4^ap-md544 Scer\GAL4^elav-C155 Scer\GAL4^wg-MD758 sqz^GAL4 sqz^ie sqz^Scer\UAS.cAa wit^A12 wit^B11
Constructs (11)
	P{lb-lacZ.K} P{UAS-ap.O} P{UAS-col.dsRNA} P{UAS-dac.S} P{UAS-Dcr-2.D} P{UAS-dimm.MYC} P{UAS-EGFP.F.MYC} P{UAS-eya.B.II} P{UAS-kn.V} P{UAS-nls-myc-EGFP} P{UAS-sqz.A}
Genes (17)
	ap Avic\GFP dac Dcr-2 dimm DopR Ecol\lacZ eya Fmrf gbb gsb kn Mad Nplp1 Scer\GAL4 sqz wit
Insertions (6)
	P{GawB}ap^md544 P{GawB}elav^C155 P{GawB}MD758 P{lacZ-un4}hkb⁵⁹⁵³ P{PZ}ap^rK568 P{PZ}gsb⁰¹¹⁵⁵
Natural transposons (1)
	P-element
Transcripts (3)
	Ecol\lacZ^ap-rK568RA Scer\GAL4^ap-md544RA sqz^GAL4RA