The human gene SALL4 appears to play a role in regulating tumorigenesis and tumor progression in numerous human cancers. SALL4 encodes a zinc finger transcription factor that plays a role in the maintenance and self-renewal of embryonic and hematopoietic stem cells. There are two orthologous genes in Drosophila, salm and salr. Multiple genetic reagents have been generated for salm and salr including loss-of-function mutations, RNAi-targeting constructs, alleles caused by insertional mutagenesis, and overexpression constructs. There are three additional related genes in human, SALL1, SALL2, and SALL3.
A UAS construct of the wild-type human Hsap\SALL4 gene has been introduced into flies and has been used in this model.
Two Drosophila systems have been used to investigate the role of SALL4 in regulating invasive cell movement. Using larval wings discs, overexpression salm, salr, or Hsap\SALL4 in a central region within the normal salm/salr expression domain results in atypical cell migration within the disc. Overexpression of salm, salr, or Hsap\SALL4 in the larval salivary gland results in migration of cells into other larval tissues. These systems have been used to characterize aspects of the invasive cell behavior, including disruption of cell polarity and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. The roles of JNK signaling and Myc expression have been investigated.
[updated Nov. 2020 by FlyBase; FBrf0222196]
Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the human gene SALL4 plays a role in regulating tumorigenesis, tumor growth and tumor progression in numerous human cancers (FBrf0245231 and references cited therein).
SALL4 encodes a zinc finger transcription factor with a key role in the maintenance and self-renewal of embryonic and hematopoietic stem cells. [Gene Cards, SALL4; 2020.11.29]
Many to many: 4 human genes to 2 Drosophila genes.
Moderate- to high-scoring ortholog of human SALL1, SALL3, SALL4, SALL2 (2 Drosophila to 4 human). Dmel\salm shares 23-29% identity and 34-40% similarity with the human genes.
Moderate-scoring ortholog of human SALL1, SALL4, SALL2, SALL3 (2 Drosophila to 4 human). Dmel\salr shares 26-29% identity and 39-41% similarity with SALL1 and SALL4.
