TY  - JOUR
TI  - Homeotic genes influence the axonal pathway of a Drosophila embryonic sensory neuron.
AU  - Merritt, David J
AU  - Whitington, Paul M
T2  - The International Journal of Developmental Biology
AB  - Each abdominal hemisegment of the Drosophila embryo has two sensory neurons intimately associated with a tracheal branch. During embryogenesis, the axons of these sensory neurons, termed the v'td2 neurons, enter the CNS and grow toward the brain with a distinctive pathway change in the third thoracic neuromere. We show that the axons use guidance cues that are under control of the bithorax gene complex (BX-C). Pathway defects in mutants suggest that a drop in Ultrabithorax expression permits the pathway change in the T3 neuromere, while combined Ultrabithorax and abdominal-A expression represses it in the abdominal neuromeres. We propose that the axons do not respond to a particular segmental identity in forming the pathway change; rather they respond to pathfinding cues that come about as a result of a drop in BX-C expression along the antero-posterior axis of the CNS.
PY  - 2002
VL  - 46
IS  - 4
SP  - 633
EP  - 638
J2  - Int. J. Dev. Biol.
LA  - en
SN  - 0214-6282
SN  - 1696-3547
UR  - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/12141451
Y2  - 2024/04/29/06:36:52
ER  -