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First published online February 2, 2004
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.00979

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Proximodistal subdivision of Drosophila legs and wings: the elbow-no ocelli gene complex

Ulrich Weihe¹, Ruslan Dorfman², Mathias F. Wernet³, Stephen M. Cohen^1, and Marco Milán^1,*,

¹ European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
² Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
³ Department of Biology, New York University, New York, USA

Authors for correspondence (e-mail: milan{at}embl.de and cohen{at}embl.de)

Accepted 28 October 2003

Appendages are thought to have arisen during evolution as outgrowths from the body wall of primitive bilateria. In Drosophila, subsets of body wall cells are set aside as appendage precursors through the action of secreted signaling proteins that direct localized expression of transcription factors. The Drosophila homeodomain protein Distal-less is expressed in the leg primordia and required for formation of legs, but not wings. The homeodomain protein Nubbin is expressed in the wing primordia and required for formation of wings, but not legs. Given that insect legs and wings have a common developmental and evolutionary origin, we sought to identify genes that underlie the specification of all appendage primordia. We present evidence that the zinc-finger proteins encoded by the elbow and no ocelli genes act in leg and wing primordia to repress body wall-specifying genes and thereby direct appendage formation.

Key words: Homothorax, Distal-less, Nubbin, Limb development, Imaginal disc

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