Agawa, Y., Sarhan, M., Kageyama, Y., Akagi, K., Takai, M., Hashiyama, K., Wada, T., Handa, H., Iwamatsu, A., Hirose, S., Ueda, H. (2007). Drosophila Blimp-1 is a transient transcriptional repressor that controls timing of the ecdysone-induced developmental pathway.  Mol. Cell. Biol. 27(24): 8739--8747.

FBrf0203167

Research paper

Regulatory mechanisms controlling the timing of developmental events are crucial for proper development to occur. ftz-f1 is expressed in a temporally regulated manner following pulses of ecdysteroid and this precise expression is necessary for the development of Drosophila melanogaster. To understand how insect hormone ecdysteroids regulate the timing of FTZ-F1 expression, we purified a DNA binding regulator of ftz-f1. Mass spectroscopy analysis revealed this protein to be a fly homolog of mammalian B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein 1 (Blimp-1). Drosophila Blimp-1 (dBlimp-1) is induced directly by 20-hydroxyecdysone, and its product exists during high-ecdysteroid periods and turns over rapidly. Forced expression of dBlimp-1 and RNA interference analysis indicate that dBlimp-1 acts as a repressor and controls the timing of FTZ-F1 expression. Furthermore, its prolonged expression results in delay of pupation timing. These results suggest that the transient transcriptional repressor dBlimp-1 is important for determining developmental timing in the ecdysone-induced pathway.

PMC2169387 (PMC) (EuropePMC)