Publications [#199310] of Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan
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- Qingyun Li, Tal Soo Ha, Sumie Okuwa, Sean Millard, Dean P. Smith and Pelin Cayirlioglu Volkan, Rotund fine-tunes sensory organ precursor identity to diversify olfactory receptor neuron classes in Drosophila.
(February, 2011) .
(last updated on 2012/02/21)Abstract:
Diversification of neuronal classes ensures optimal detection of the external world and is a hallmark of sensory systems. An extreme example is seen in the olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) of both vertebrate and invertebrate olfactory systems, in which each ORN class typically expresses only one of a large genomic repertoire of olfactory receptors. The molecular mechanisms that generate this neuronal diversity are unclear. Here we reveal a novel mechanism, mediated by Rotund, which dramatically increases the cellular diversity in the Drosophila olfactory system. rotund (rn) encodes a Krüppel-like transcription factor and is expressed in a subset of antennal sensilla precursors, thereby classifying the precursors of each sensilla type under rn-positives and rn-negatives subtypes. In rn mutants, the overall ORN diversity is decreased due to the loss of some rn-positive sensilla subtype ORNs and the conversion of the remaining ones to rn-negative ORNs. Our results indicate that the differentiation pattern of sensory precursor cells into sensilla subtypes is a critical determinant of ORN-class diversification. Such spatio-temporal refinement of precursor cell identity provides an efficient developmental strategy for generating extraordinary cellular diversity from a homogeneous population.
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