Stochastic spineless expression creates the retinal mosaic for colour vision

Mathias F. Wernet, Esteban O. Mazzoni, Arzu Çelik, Dianne M. Duncan, Ian Duncan and Claude Desplan ()
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Mathias F. Wernet: New York University
Esteban O. Mazzoni: New York University
Arzu Çelik: New York University
Dianne M. Duncan: Washington University
Ian Duncan: Washington University
Claude Desplan: New York University

Nature, 2006, vol. 440, issue 7081, 174-180

Abstract: Abstract Drosophila colour vision is achieved by R7 and R8 photoreceptor cells present in every ommatidium. The fly retina contains two types of ommatidia, called ‘pale’ and ‘yellow’, defined by different rhodopsin pairs expressed in R7 and R8 cells. Similar to the human cone photoreceptors, these ommatidial subtypes are distributed stochastically in the retina. The choice between pale versus yellow ommatidia is made in R7 cells, which then impose their fate onto R8. Here we report that the Drosophila dioxin receptor Spineless is both necessary and sufficient for the formation of the ommatidial mosaic. A short burst of spineless expression at mid-pupation in a large subset of R7 cells precedes rhodopsin expression. In spineless mutants, all R7 and most R8 cells adopt the pale fate, whereas overexpression of spineless is sufficient to induce the yellow R7 fate. Therefore, this study suggests that the entire retinal mosaic required for colour vision is defined by the stochastic expression of a single transcription factor, Spineless.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04615

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