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First published online August 4, 2003
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.00646

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The expression and function of the achaete-scute genes in Tribolium castaneum reveals conservation and variation in neural pattern formation and cell fate specification

¹ Program in Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, 4566 Scott Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
² Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4566 Scott Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
³ Division of Biology, Ackert Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jskeath{at}genetics.wustl.edu)

Accepted 4 June 2003

The study of achaete-scute (ac/sc) genes has recently become a paradigm to understand the evolution and development of the arthropod nervous system. We describe the identification and characterization of the ac/sc genes in the coleopteran insect species Tribolium castaneum. We have identified two Tribolium ac/sc genes - achaete-scute homolog (Tc-ASH) a proneural gene and asense (Tc-ase) a neural precursor gene that reside in a gene complex. Focusing on the embryonic central nervous system we find that Tc-ASH is expressed in all neural precursors and the proneural clusters from which they segregate. Through RNAi and misexpression studies we show that Tc-ASH is necessary for neural precursor formation in Tribolium and sufficient for neural precursor formation in Drosophila. Comparison of the function of the Drosophila and Tribolium proneural ac/sc genes suggests that in the Drosophila lineage these genes have maintained their ancestral function in neural precursor formation and have acquired a new role in the fate specification of individual neural precursors. Furthermore, we find that Tc-ase is expressed in all neural precursors suggesting an important and conserved role for asense genes in insect nervous system development. Our analysis of the Tribolium ac/sc genes indicates significant plasticity in gene number, expression and function, and implicates these modifications in the evolution of arthropod neural development.

Key words: achaete-scute, Tribolium castaneum, Drosophila melanogaster, Central nervous system

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