Sevenless

Sevenless (sev) is a gene in Drosophila melanogaster that encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase protein essential to the development of R7 cells in the Drosophila embryonic eye.[1] The drosophila ommatidium contains 8 distinct retinula or R cells, each of which has a different spectral sensitivity. The R7 photo receptor, located in each of several ommatidium in the fly's compound eye, is used to detect ultraviolet light.[2] The R8 photo receptor contains an activator of the RTK (receptor tyrosine kinase) for on a precursor R7 cell, called the bride of sevenless (BOSS). The binding of BOSS to sevenless stimulates a complex series of reactions involving the RTK (sevenless), MAP kinases, Ras and many more molecules to differentiate that precursor R7 photo receptor to a fully functional R7 photo receptor that can see UV light. Much of this knowledge was gained by examining flies with a mutant sevenless which still produced a fully functional R7 photoreceptor when a dominant Ras was injected into the mutant R7 precursor.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=mcb&part=A5803,#A5808
  2. ↑ Smith, Christopher U.M. (2002) [1989]. "19.5 Morphogenesis in the Drosophila eye". Elements of Molecular Neurobiology. Oxford Journals. pp. 450–451. ISBN 0-471-56038-3.
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