Project name: Drosophila melanogaster

Description: Coordinating cell proliferation and differentiation is essential during organogenesis. In Drosophila, the photoreceptor, pigment and support cells of the eye are specified in an orchestrated wave as the morphogenetic furrow passes across the eye imaginal disc. Cells anterior of the furrow are uncommitted to cell type and remain mitotically active, while most cells in the furrow arrest at G1 and adopt specified ommatidial fates. We used microarray expression analysis to monitor changes in transcription at the furrow and identified genes whose expression correlates with either proliferation or fate specification.Overall design: This study took advantage of the spatial arrangement of undifferentiated and differentiating cells on either side of the MF in Drosophila melanogaster eye imaginal discs. To identify genes that are important to the undifferentiated state of proliferating eye disc cells, or to cells exiting the mitotic program to differentiate, RNA was isolated from posterior cells and from whole eye discs. Disc fragments posterior to the MF were obtained by micro-dissection from the w1118 strain that differentiates eyes normally (except for pigmentation). Whole eye discs were from various mutants that either increase the proportion of differentiating photoreceptor cells (extra R8 phenotype: rough X63 (roX63), and Su(roDom)519 (Chanut et al., 2000) or reduce the proportion of photoreceptor cells due to a stop furrow phenotype (atonal1 (ato1), hedgehog1 (hh1), roughDominant (roDom), and Enhancer(roDom)2033 (E(roDom)2033) (Dokucu et al., 1996; Chanut et al., 2000). After purification, the RNA populations were processed by linear amplification and hybridized to custom-made DNA glass microarrays. Hybridization experiments were performed comparing posterior fragments or discs with abnormal numbers of photoreceptors to “normal” discs; a minimum of two independent replicates were made for each of nine different experimental conditions.

Data type: Transcriptome or Gene expression

Sample scope: Multiisolate

Relevance: ModelOrganism

Release date: 2008-09-23

Last updated: 2008-09-19