Jafar-Nejad, H., Acar, M., Nolo, R., Lacin, H., Pan, H., Parkhurst, S.M., Bellen, H.J. (2003). Senseless acts as a binary switch during sensory organ precursor selection. Genes Dev. 17(23): 2966--2978.
FlyBase ID
FBrf0167609
Publication Type
Research paper
Abstract
During sensory organ precursor (SOP) specification, a single cell is selected from a proneural cluster of cells. Here, we present evidence that Senseless (Sens), a zinc-finger transcription factor, plays an important role in this process. We show that Sens is directly activated by proneural proteins in the presumptive SOPs and a few cells surrounding the SOP in most tissues. In the cells that express low levels of Sens, it acts in a DNA-binding-dependent manner to repress transcription of proneural genes. In the presumptive SOPs that express high levels of Sens, it acts as a transcriptional activator and synergizes with proneural proteins. We therefore propose that Sens acts as a binary switch that is fundamental to SOP selection.
