High impact information on sala

• No phenotype has yet been attributed to mutations in vertebrate sal-like genes [1].
• The enhancer detector in this strain is located near a similarly regulated gene at the spalt (sal) locus, which encodes a homeotic function involved in embryonic head and tail development [2].
• Studies of one t-hr mutant have led to the identification of the mSal2 gene product (p150(sal2)) as a binding partner of the large T antigen. mSal2 encodes a multizinc finger protein and putative transcription factor homologous to the Drosophila homeotic gene Spalt [3].
• Although playing only a minor role in the eye, Dpp governs, at long range, the expression of essential genes such as optomotor blind and spalt in the wing [4].
• During larval development, the expression of spalt, a dpp target, was abolished in mutant wing discs, while it was restored by a constitutively activated form of Tkv (Tkv(Q253D)) [5].

Biological context of sala

• Ectopic expression or absence of sala protein does not affect embryonic development, adult viability or fertility [6].
• Our data suggest that sal encodes an accessory function that evolved relatively late during Drosophila speciation rather than playing a fundamental evolutionary role similar to that of other homeotic genes [7].
• Isolation, characterization, and organ-specific expression of two novel human zinc finger genes related to the Drosophila gene spalt [8].
• The results suggest that the transacting factors, as defined by genetic studies, functionally interact with the spalt regulatory region [9].
• Later in development spalt activity participates in specific processes during organogenesis and larval imaginal disc development [9].

Anatomical context of sala

• We find that spalt/spalt-related participate in the development of sensory organs in the thorax, mainly in the positioning of specific proneural clusters [10].
• Here we show that XsalF, a frog homolog of the Drosophila homeotic selector spalt, plays an essential role for the forebrain/midbrain determination in Xenopus [11].

Regulatory relationships of sala

• Coexpression of Distal-less and homothorax activates ectopic spalt expression and can induce the formation of ectopic antennae at novel locations in the body, including the head, the legs, the wings and the genital disc derivatives [12].

Other interactions of sala

• RESULTS: We have identified several transcription factors, including butterfly homologs of the Drosophila Engrailed/Invected and Spalt proteins, that are deployed in concentric territories corresponding to the future rings of pigmented scales that compose the adult eyespot [13].
• Most notable among these are Surf6, a nucleolar protein involved in RNA processing, and Spalt, a homeotic protein [14].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of sala

• Wingless and its intracellular signal transducer, Armadillo, have multiple functions, including specifying the dorsal trunk through activation of Spalt expression and inducing differentiation of fusion cells in all fusion branches [15].

References