Disease relevance of pdm2

• In the CNS, miti is required for the elaboration of the NB4-2-->GMC-1-->RP2/sib lineage. miti is initially required in this lineage to establish the identity of the parental ganglion mother cell, GMC-1. miti must then be down-regulated to allow the asymmetric division of GMC-1 into the RP2 and its sibling cell [1].

High impact information on pdm2

• We have isolated crustacean homologues of two genes that have wing-specific functions in insects, pdm (nubbin) and apterous [2].
• We demonstrate that the protein product encoded by a POU homeo domain gene (dPOU28/pdm-2) is expressed in the cell nuclei of a subset of NBs and GMCs [3].
• Although not affecting expression of early neuroblast markers, the deletion of the region containing all three genes correlates with loss of expression of CNS determinants including fushi tarazu, pdm-2 and even-skipped [4].
• Upregulation of Mitimere and Nubbin acts through cyclin E to confer self-renewing asymmetric division potential to neural precursor cells [5].
• In GMC-1 of the RP2/sib lineage, Slit promotes asymmetric division by down regulating two POU proteins, Nubbin and Mitimere [6].

Biological context of pdm2

• Six clusters are enhancers of adjacent genes: giant, fushi tarazu, odd-skipped, nubbin, squeeze and pdm2; three drive expression in patterns unrelated to those of neighboring genes; the remaining 18 do not appear to have enhancer activity [7].
• These POU domain genes, pdm-1 and pdm-2, are expressed at high levels during early embryogenesis and at lower levels throughout the rest of development [8].
• We examine the expression of two developmental genes, pdm/nubbin and apterous, that participate in the specification of insects' wings and are expressed in particular crustacean epipods/gills [9].
• Using these dominant negative transgenes, together with deletions and a duplication for the gene, we show that miti is required during segmentation and neurogenesis [1].

Anatomical context of pdm2

• We have also identified the cells in the dorsal and lateral clusters of the peripheral nervous system that express pdm-1 and pdm-2, and show that some of these cells derive from lineages that require BX-C functions [8].
• A recent report details the roles that two genes, pdm-1 and pdm-2, play within an identified neural stem cell lineage in the Drosophila embryonic central nervous system [10].

Other interactions of pdm2

• We have characterized two Drosophila POU genes designated dPOU-19 and dPOU-28 [11].
• The spatial expression patterns of the pdm-2 and Cf1a genes show that they probably play multiple roles during development: an early role in specific ectodermal cells, and a subsequent role in the embryonic nervous system [12].
• In spiders (terrestrial chelicerates), pdm/nubbin and apterous are expressed in successive segmental primordia that give rise to book lungs, lateral tubular tracheae, and spinnerets, novel structures that are used by spiders to breathe on land and to spin their webs [9].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of pdm2

• In situ hybridization to D. virilis embryos shows that virtually all aspects of pdm-2 expression are conserved between D. virilis and D. melanogaster [13].

References