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Copyright © 2002, The National Academy of Sciences Developmental Biology Conservation of Pax 6 function and upstream activation by Notch signaling in eye development of frogs and flies *Department of Life Sciences, †Core Research for Evolution Science and Technology Project, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan; ‡Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan; and ¶Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland §To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: kurata/at/mail.pharm.tohoku.ac.jp or walter.gehring/at/unibas.ch. Contributed by Walter J. Gehring Accepted November 21, 2001. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.Abstract Loss of Pax 6 function leads to an eyeless phenotype in both mammals and insects, and ectopic expression of both the Drosophila and the mouse gene leads to the induction of ectopic eyes in Drosophila, which suggested to us that Pax 6 might be a universal master control gene for eye morphogenesis. Here, we report the reciprocal experiment in which the RNAs of the Drosophila Pax 6 homologs, eyeless and twin of eyeless, are transferred into a vertebrate embryo; i.e., early Xenopus embryos at the 2- and 16-cell stages. In both cases, ectopic eye structures are formed. To understand the genetic program specifying eye morphogenesis, we have analyzed the regulatory mechanisms of Pax 6 expression that initiates eye development. Previously, we have demonstrated that Notch signaling regulates the expression of eyeless and twin of eyeless in Drosophila. Here, we show that in Xenopus, activation of Notch signaling also induces eye-related gene expression, including Pax 6, in isolated animal caps. In Xenopus embryos, the activation of Notch signaling causes eye duplications and proximal eye defects, which are also induced by overexpression of eyeless and twin of eyeless. These findings indicate that the gene regulatory cascade is similar in vertebrates and invertebrates. In the animal kingdom, a large variety of different eye types are found. In vertebrates, the development of the camera-type eye with a single lens depends on coordinated inductive interactions between the presumptive neural retina and the surface ectoderm that will give rise to the lens (1). In contrast to the single lens eye of vertebrates, the development of the compound eye of Drosophila is initiated in a small group of epithelial cells in the embryo that form the eye part of eye-antennal imaginal disk after proliferation during larval stages (2). Despite these differences, recent studies have demonstrated that the genetic programs specifying eye development are conserved during evolution (3–5). The striking examples are the Pax 6 genes, which are key regulators for eye morphogenesis in both animal phyla (6). The Pax 6 genes code for transcription factors containing two highly conserved DNA-binding motifs, a paired domain and a paired-type homeodomain (7, 8). Mutations in Pax 6 result in eye malformations known as Small eye in mice (9), Aniridia in humans (10, 11), and eyeless in Drosophila (12). By targeted expression of eyeless, ectopic eyes can be induced on the antennae, the legs, and the wings of the fly (13). Misexpression of Pax 6 in Xenopus also results in the formation of ectopic eye structures (14, 15). To test whether Pax 6 is a universal master control gene for eye morphogenesis, we have expressed the mouse Pax 6 gene in Drosophila leading to the induction of well developed compound eyes (13). Here, we report a reciprocal experiment in which we express the Drosophila Pax 6 homologs, eyeless and twin of eyeless (16), in Xenopus embryos and obtain vertebrate eye structures. To understand the genetic hierarchy controlling eye development, we have begun to compare the Pax 6 downstream target genes in the various animal phyla. A direct target gene for eyeless, sine oculis (so; ref, 17), constitutes a positive feedback loop for eyeless with eyes absent and dachshund in Drosophila eye development (18–22). A member of the sine oculis family, Six 3, is a downstream target gene of Pax 6 in vertebrate eye development (15) and makes a positive feedback loop for Pax 6 with Rx (23), another homeobox gene (24). However, the Drosophila gene optix, which is more closely related to so than Six 3, is capable of inducing ectopic eyes by an eyeless-independent mechanism (25). In planarians, Pax 6 participates in eye development (26), and the sine oculis homolog is essential for eye regeneration (27), suggesting that the basic elements of the genetic pathway are conserved in these prototypic eyes. These observations have suggested that the regulatory network has been adapted to the control of development of different eye types during evolution (28). To understand the genetic program specifying eye development, it is important to study the regulatory mechanisms for Pax 6 expression, which initiates eye development. Previously, we have demonstrated that Notch signaling regulates the expression of eyeless and twin of eyeless (29); the latter is known to be an upstream regulator for eyeless by directly regulating the eye-specific enhancer of the eyeless gene in the embryo (16, 30). The Notch signaling pathway defines an evolutionarily conserved cell–cell interaction mechanism that throughout development controls the ability of precursor cells to respond to developmental signals (31). Here, we show that in Xenopus the activation of Notch signaling activates Pax 6 and other eye-related genes in isolated animal caps, and induces eye duplications as well as proximal eye defects in embryos that are also induced by misexpression of the Drosophila homologs of Pax 6, eyeless and twin of eyeless. Furthermore, the misexpression of eyeless and twin of eyeless results in the formation of ectopic eye structures in Xenopus embryos. These results suggest that the regulation of Pax 6 expression and the function of Pax 6 in eye development are conserved in vertebrates and invertebrates. Materials and Methods Construction of Expression Vectors. Drosophila eyeless-pNRRX and twin of eyeless-pNRRX were constructed as follows: the ORF of eyeless was amplified with primers (5′-CATGTTTACATTGCAACCAACTCC-3′ and 5′-GCTAGACCCACGGTGAGTAGAAACA-3′) by using the eyeless-pNHT4 plasmid as a template by PCR (12). The ORF of twin of eyeless was PCR-amplified with primers (5′-CATGATGCTAACAACTGAACACATAA-3′ and 5′-ATCACTGAAGACGTGGCCA-3′) by using the twin of eyeless-pBluescript SK(−) plasmid as a template (16). These fragments were cloned into the EcoRV sites of pNRRX; the pNRRX vector is a modified pBluescript II SK(−) (Stratagene). The fragment of Xglobin 5′-untranslated region and 3′-untranslated region of pSP64T vector (32) was subcloned into the PstI/HindIII sites of pBluescript II SK(−), and the NotI–EcoRI–EcoRV–XhoI linker was inserted into the BglII site of the Xglobin-untranslated region fragment. Xenopus Notch ΔE-pCS2(+) was described before (33). Green fluorescent protein (GFP) (CLONTECH) was subcloned into the BglII site of pSP64T (32). Microinjections and Histology. Capped synthetic RNAs of eyeless-pNRRX, twin of eyeless-pNRRX, Notch ΔE-pCS2(+), and GFP-psp64T were in vitro transcribed by using T7 or SP6 RNA polymerase (Stratagene). For animal cap assays, in vitro synthesized RNAs were injected into both blastomeres of 2-cell stage Xenopus embryos. Animal caps were isolated at the late-blastula stage (stage 9) and cultured in Steinberg's solution. For the histological analyses, the synthesized RNAs were injected into one of the blastomeres of 2-cell-stage or 16-cell-stage embryos. Respectively, the embryos were grown to stage 41–42 or stage 48 and examined histologically by using hematoxylin and eosin staining. Reverse Transcriptase (RT)-PCR Analysis. Total RNA was extracted with TRIZOL Reagent (GIBCO/BRL) from cultured animal caps. First-strand cDNA was synthesized from 1 μg RNA with an Oligo-(dT) primer by using Superscript II reverse transcriptase (GIBCO/BRL). A negative control excluding enzyme was included for each sample. One-tenth of the cDNA obtained was used for each PCR reaction. Primers and PCR conditions used in this study were as follows: β-crystallin, forward 5′-TGAGTACCCACGTTGGGATAC-3′ and reverse 5′-AGCCTGGATACTGATATCCAACC-3′ (29 cycles) (14); EF-1α, forward 5′-TTGCCACACTGCTCACATTGCTTGC-3′ and reverse 5′-ATCCTGCTGCCTTCTTTTCCACTGC-3′ (21 cycles) (34); N-CAM, forward 5′-CACAGTTCCACCAAATGC-3′ and reverse 5′-GGAATCAAGCGGTACAGA-3′ (27 cycles) (34); ornitin dehydrocarboxylase, forward 5′-GTCAATGATGGAGTGTATGGATC-3′ and reverse 5′-TCCATTCCGCTCTCCTGAGCAC-3′ (23 cycles) (35); Pax 6, forward 5′-AGTGTCCTCATTCACATCGG-3′ and reverse 5′-GATTCTTGGCTGGATCATGG-3′ (25 cycles) (two different length products are amplified by these primers) (36–38); Rx, forward 5′-ATACAGCAGAGAAGAGCTGGC-3′ and reverse 5′-AAGGTTGGAGAGCATGACC-3′ (25 cycles) (these primers fail to distinguish Xrx1 from Xrx2) (24); and Six 3, forward 5′-GCTTCAGCACCAGTCTATCG-3′ and reverse 5′-AAGGAATCATGCAATGGCC-3′ (25 cycles) (15). Results The Two Pax 6 Homologs of Drosophila, eyeless and twin of eyeless, Induce Eye Structures in Xenopus Embryos and Eye-Related Gene Expression in Animal Caps. In Drosophila, expression of Drosophila Pax 6 homologs, eyeless and twin of eyeless, and mouse Pax 6 in imaginal discs result in the formation of ectopic eyes (13, 16), and the misexpression of Pax 6 in Xenopus embryos also results in the formation of ectopic eye structures (14, 15). As a reciprocal experiment, we examined the effects of misexpression of Drosophila Pax 6 homologs in Xenopus embryos. First, we injected eyeless and twin of eyeless RNA into one of the two blastomeres at the 2-cell stage and allowed the embryos to develop until stage 41 to 42. In addition to duplications of lenses and neural retina cell layers (Fig. (Fig.11
Induction of Eye Duplications and Proximal Eye Defects by Activation of Notch Signaling. To determine the role of Notch signaling in vertebrate eye development, we injected a constitutively activated form of Xenopus Notch receptor (Notch ΔE) RNA into one of the two blastomeres at the 2-cell stage and allowed the embryos to develop until stage 41 to 42. As shown in Fig. Fig.11 Induction of Eye-Related Gene Expression Including Pax 6 in the Isolated Animal Caps of Xenopus by the Activation of Notch Signaling. In Drosophila, the expression of eyeless is restricted to the region anterior to the morphogenetic furrow in the eye part of wild-type eye-antennal discs (12). The ectopic expression of eyeless is induced in eye-antennal discs by the activation of Notch signaling resulting from the expression of a constitutively activated form of Drosophila Notch receptor (Nact) in eye-antennal discs (29). To examine the potential role of Notch signaling on the induction of the Pax 6 gene in vertebrates, we injected RNA for Xenopus Notch ΔE into both blastomeres of 2-cell Xenopus embryos and analyzed the expression of Pax 6 in the animal cap ectoderm isolated at late blastula (stage 9). In this well established animal cap assay, the animal caps are not exposed to the inductive signals from the mesodermal tissues, and they develop as epithelia that fail to express eye-related genes including Pax 6. As shown in Fig. Fig.44 Discussion Evolutionary Conservation of the Function of Pax 6 in Eye Development. In this paper, we demonstrate that the Drosophila homologs of Pax 6, eyeless and twin of eyeless, are sufficient to induce eye structures in Xenopus embryos, indicating that Drosophila Pax 6 homologs are functional equivalents of vertebrate Pax 6 in vertebrate eye development. Because eyeless and twin of eyeless induce the expression of endogenous Pax 6 in the isolated animal caps, they presumably activate the positive feedback loop for Pax 6, which has been shown to be implicated in eye development. In Drosophila, the ectopic expression of mouse Pax 6 in imaginal discs activates a similar positive feedback loop for eyeless that comprises eyeless, sine oculis, eyes absent, and dachshund (16, 20). Therefore, the function of Pax 6 genes seems to be conserved in eye development of vertebrates and invertebrates. We found that both Pax 6 homologs, eyeless and twin of eyeless, induce ectopic eye structures in Xenopus embryo. However, judging from the frequency of the ectopic induction of eye-related structures, eyeless has a stronger activity for the induction than twin of eyeless. Eyeless is capable of inducing ectopic lenses, whereas twin of eyeless failed to do so, even at higher concentrations. Corresponding to these phenotypical analyses, in the animal cap assays eyeless also shows stronger activity for induction of eye-related gene expression than twin of eyeless. Particularly, β-crystallin expression was only induced by misexpression of eyeless and not by twin of eyeless. Overexpression of vertebrate Pax 6 induces ectopic eye structures with lens and ectopic expression of β-crystallin in Xenopus embryos (15). These observations indicate that eyeless is more closely related to vertebrate Pax 6 with respect to eye induction than twin of eyeless. Because two Pax 6 genes are only found in holometabolous insects and not in hemimetabolous or apterygote insects (28), the functional divergence of these genes seems to have occurred during insect evolution. The twin of eyeless protein is more similar to the vertebrate Pax 6 proteins than to the eyeless protein, particularly in its overall length and at the C-terminal region (16). However, the eyeless protein is more closely related in the paired domain to vertebrate Pax 6 proteins than the twin of eyeless protein (16). Recently, we found that in Drosophila the paired domain of eyeless is essential for its ectopic eye induction, and the expression of a truncated eyeless protein lacking the homeodomain is sufficient to induce ectopic eyes (42). Therefore, the paired domain of Pax 6 seems to be critical for its conserved function in eye induction. Regulatory Mechanisms for Expression of Pax 6 in Eye Development. We found that activation of Notch signaling is sufficient to induce Pax 6 expression in the isolated animal caps of Xenopus. In the embryos, the activation of Notch signaling induces eye duplications and proximal eye defects that are also induced by misexpression of Pax 6 as well as eyeless and twin of eyeless. These results suggest that Notch signaling participates in vertebrate eye development in a Pax 6-dependent manner. Overexpression of Drosophila Pax 6 homologs induces ectopic eye structures in the head and trunk region, whereas activation of Notch signaling induces eye defects in a restricted region of the head around the original eyes, suggesting a context-dependent manner for Pax 6 induction by Notch signaling. In Drosophila, Notch signaling regulates the expression of several key regulators for eye, antenna, leg, and wing morphogenesis in a context-dependent manner (29). For example, the activation of Notch signaling induces eyeless and twin of eyeless in eye-antennal discs and induces hyperplasia of the original eyes, as well as ectopic eyes on the rostral membrane, which is derived from the antennal discs. In the presence of Antennapedia protein, a homeotic gene product specifying the identity of the second thoracic segment (43, 44), the activation of Notch signaling induces expression of vestigial, a key regulator for wing development (45), and ectopic wing structures on the head (29). 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Curr Opin Genet Dev. 1995 Oct; 5(5):602-9.
[Curr Opin Genet Dev. 1995]Cell Mol Life Sci. 2000 Feb; 57(2):186-94.
[Cell Mol Life Sci. 2000]Annu Rev Neurosci. 1997; 20():483-532.
[Annu Rev Neurosci. 1997]Cell. 1991 Dec 20; 67(6):1059-74.
[Cell. 1991]Development. 1991 Dec; 113(4):1435-49.
[Development. 1991]Nature. 1991 Dec 19-26; 354(6354):522-5.
[Nature. 1991]Nat Genet. 1992 Nov; 2(3):232-9.
[Nat Genet. 1992]Nat Genet. 1992 Aug; 1(5):328-32.
[Nat Genet. 1992]Science. 1994 Aug 5; 265(5173):785-9.
[Science. 1994]Mol Cell. 1999 Mar; 3(3):297-307.
[Mol Cell. 1999]Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Sep 25; 12(18):7057-70.
[Nucleic Acids Res. 1984]Cell. 1993 May 21; 73(4):659-71.
[Cell. 1993]Dev Biol. 1997 May 1; 185(1):119-23.
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[Nature. 1996]J Neurobiol. 1997 Jan; 32(1):45-61.
[J Neurobiol. 1997]Development. 1998 Jul; 125(13):2425-32.
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[Dev Biol. 1997]Development. 1999 Oct; 126(19):4213-22.
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