@article {69040, title = {hkb is required for DIP-α expression and target recognition in the Drosophila neuromuscular circuit}, journal = {Communications Biology}, volume = {7}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Apr 27}, abstract = {

Our nervous system contains billions of neurons that form precise connections with each other through interactions between cell surface proteins (CSPs). In Drosophila, the Dpr and DIP immunoglobulin protein subfamilies form homophilic or heterophilic interactions to instruct synaptic connectivity, synaptic growth and cell survival. However, the upstream regulation and downstream signaling mechanisms of Dprs and DIPs are not clear. In the Drosophila larval neuromuscular system,\ DIP-α\ is expressed in the dorsal and ventral type-Is motor neurons (MNs). We conducted an F1 dominant modifier genetic screen to identify regulators of Dprs and DIPs. We found that the transcription factor,\ huckebein\ (hkb), genetically interacts with\ DIP-α\ and is important for target recognition specifically in the dorsal Is MN, but not the ventral Is MN. Loss of\ hkb\ led to complete removal of\ DIP-α\ expression. We then confirmed that this specificity is through the dorsal Is MN specific transcription factor,\ even-skipped\ (eve), which acts downstream of\ hkb. Genetic interaction between\ hkb\ and\ eve\ revealed that they act in the same pathway to regulate dorsal Is MN connectivity. Our study provides insight into the transcriptional regulation of\ DIP-α\ and suggests that distinct regulatory mechanisms exist for the same CSP in different neurons.

}, doi = {10.1038/s42003-024-06184-8}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06184-8}, author = {Robert A Carrillo and Yupu Wang and Rio Salazar and Luciano Simonetta and Violet Sorrentino and Terrence J Gatton and Bill Wu and Christopher G Vecsey} }