Combinatorial signaling in the specification of unique cell fates

How multifunctional signals combine to specify unique cell fates during pattern formation is not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that together with the transcription factor Lozenge, the nuclear effectors of the EGFR and Notch signaling pathways directly regulate D-Pax2 transcription in cone cells of the Drosophila eye disc. Moreover, the specificity of D-Pax2 expression can be altered upon genetic manipulation of these inputs. Thus, a relatively small number of temporally and spatially controlled signals received by a set of pluripotent cells can create the unique combinations of activated transcription factors required to regulate target genes and ultimately specify distinct cell fates within this group. We expect that similar mechanisms may specify pattern formation in vertebrate developmental systems that involve intercellular communication.

Patterning an epidermal field: Drosophila lozenge, a member of the AML-1/Runt family of transcription factors, specifies olfactory sense organ type in a dose-dependent manner

Sense organ development in the Drosophila antenna is initiated by the selection of a founder cell from an epidermal field. This cell is believed to recruit neighbours to form a cluster of cells which then divides to form a mature sense organ. In most systems so far studied, sense organ type appears to be specified by the identity of proneural genes involved in the selection of precursors. The regulation of proneural gene expression is, in turn, controlled by the prepatterning genes. In the antenna, the only known proneural function is that of atonal, a gene that is involved in founder cell choice in the sensilla coeloconica, and no prepatterning gene function has yet been demonstrated. In this study, we show that Lozenge, a protein which possesses a DNA binding domain similar to that of the Acute myeloid leukemia-1/Runt transcription factors, functions in a dose-dependent manner to specify the fate of the other two types of sense organs in the antenna: the sensilla trichoidea and the sensilla basiconica. Our results suggest that Lozenge may act on the epidermal field, resulting in founder cells acquiring specific cell fates that lead to the development of an appropriate type of sense organ.

Lozenge is expressed in pluripotent precursor cells and patterns multiple cell types in the Drosophila eye through the control of cell-specific transcription factors

In the developing Drosophila eye, individual cell fates are specified when general signaling mechanisms are interpreted in the context of cell-specific transcription factors. Lozenge, a Runt/AML1/CBFA1-like transcription factor, determines the fates of a number of neuronal and non-neuronal cells by regulating the expression of multiple fate-determining transcription factors. The Lozenge protein is expressed in the nuclei of the cells that it patterns and also in their undifferentiated precursors. An enhancer element located within the second intron of the lozenge gene is responsible for its eye-specific expression. Lozenge is not itself a cell-specific transcription factor, rather it prepatterns the eye disc by positioning cell-specific factors in their appropriate locations.