Identification of a Drosophila muscle development gene with structural homology to mammalian early growth response transcription factors.

In Drosophila, stripe (sr) gene function is required for normal muscle development. Some mutations disrupt embryonic muscle development and are lethal. Other mutations cause total loss of only a single muscle in the adult. Molecular analysis shows that sr encodes a predicted protein containing a zinc finger motif. This motif is homologous to the DNA binding domains encoded by members of the early growth response (egr) gene family. In mammals, expression of egr genes is induced by intercellular signals, and there is evidence for their role in many developmental events. The identification of sr as an egr gene and its pattern of expression suggest that it functions in muscle development via intercellular communication. IMAGES:

在果蝇（Drosophila）中，条纹（sr）基因的功能对于正常肌肉发育不可或缺。部分突变会破坏胚胎肌肉发育并导致个体致死，另有部分突变仅会造成成虫体内单条肌肉完全缺失。分子分析显示，sr基因编码一种包含锌指基序（zinc finger motif）的预测蛋白，该基序与早期生长反应（early growth response, EGR）基因家族成员所编码的DNA结合结构域具有同源性。在哺乳动物中，EGR基因的表达可被细胞间信号诱导，且有证据表明其在诸多发育事件中发挥作用。将sr鉴定为EGR基因家族成员，并结合其表达模式，提示该基因通过细胞间通讯参与肌肉发育调控。图像：