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1: Genes Dev. 2003 Dec 1;17(23):2966-78.Click here to read Click here to read Links

Senseless acts as a binary switch during sensory organ precursor selection.

Jafar-Nejad H, Acar M, Nolo R, Lacin H, Pan H, Parkhurst SM, Bellen HJ.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

During sensory organ precursor (SOP) specification, a single cell is selected from a proneural cluster of cells. Here, we present evidence that Senseless (Sens), a zinc-finger transcription factor, plays an important role in this process. We show that Sens is directly activated by proneural proteins in the presumptive SOPs and a few cells surrounding the SOP in most tissues. In the cells that express low levels of Sens, it acts in a DNA-binding-dependent manner to repress transcription of proneural genes. In the presumptive SOPs that express high levels of Sens, it acts as a transcriptional activator and synergizes with proneural proteins. We therefore propose that Sens acts as a binary switch that is fundamental to SOP selection.

PMID: 14665671 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC289154

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