Winter, Stephanie E.
(2005)
Repression of Dpp targets in the Drosophila wing by Brinker.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
During development, gradients of transcription factors regulate patterning along a body axis by activation or repression of target genes above distinct threshold levels. In the Drosophila wing, expression of genes such as spalt (sal) and optomotor-blind (omb) is restricted along the A/P axis by lateral-to-medial gradients of the transcriptional repressor Brinker (Brk). sal is more sensitive to repression by Brk than omb, and thus has a narrower expression domain compared to omb. The Brk expression pattern is established by Decapentaplegic (Dpp), a TGF-b superfamily member, which forms a complementary medial-to-lateral morphogen gradient along the (A/P) axis of the wing. We have investigated the mechanisms Brk uses to repress gene expression to gain an understanding of why some targets such as sal are more sensitive to Brk than others such as omb. Previous studies have suggested that Brk represses gene expression simply by competing with activators, but we show that Brk requires an active repression domain along with the DNA binding domain for repressor activity. Brk possesses four repression domains, but these domains are not equivalent; for example, 3R is sufficient to repress omb but not sal. Consequently, although sal and omb show quantitative differences in their response to Brk, there are qualitative differences in the mechanisms that Brk uses to repress each of these genes.
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| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
10 October 2005 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
25 July 2005 |
| Approval Date: |
10 October 2005 |
| Submission Date: |
15 August 2005 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Biological Sciences |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Brinker; Dpp; Drosophila; transcriptional repression |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08152005-134633/, etd-08152005-134633 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:59 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:49 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9101 |
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