Embryology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Embryology, including details on stem cells, reproduction, transplants, cloning.

A homologue of the vertebrate SET domain and zinc finger protein Blimp-1 regulates terminal differentiation of the tracheal system in the Drosophila embryo.

Ng T, Yu F, Roy S

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore, 138673, Singapore. phsngt@nus.edu.sg

The B-lymphocyte-inducing maturation protein (Blimp-1) gene encodes a zinc finger and SET/PR domain-containing transcriptional factor. A number of functional studies in a variety of vertebrate species have demonstrated that Blimp-1 is a master regulator of cell fate determination and cell differentiation in a wide diversity of developmental contexts. Despite all of this significance, the role, if any, of a homologue of Blimp-1 in directing morphogenetic events during embryonic development of invertebrates has so far remained completely unexplored. In this report, we describe the identification of a Drosophila homologue of Blimp-1 and show that the gene is expressed in diverse cell types during the course of embryogenesis. Further, using genetic analysis, we demonstrate that its wild-type activity is critically required for the maturation of the tracheal system into properly differentiated tubes.

Published 20 April 2006 in Dev Genes Evol, 216(5): 243-52.
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