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Cloning of a decapentaplegic orthologue from the sawfly, Athalia rosae (Hymenoptera), and its expression in the embryonic appendages

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Abstract

The cDNA of a decapentaplegic (dpp) orthologue from the sawfly, Athalia rosae (Hymenoptera), was cloned and characterized. The clone (Ar dpp) was 2,566 bp long and encoded 395 amino acids in a single open reading frame. Genomic Southern blotting showed that Ar dpp is a single copy gene. The deduced amino acid sequence can be aligned along its entire length with known insect DPPs. It shared common characteristics such as a signal sequence, a pro-domain region, and a ligand domain with seven cysteines at conserved locations. Ar dpp was expressed as a single 5.0-kb mRNA in embryos, larvae, pupae and adults. In situ hybridization showed that Ar dpp was expressed in the dorsal region proper in early embryonic stages and in the embryonic appendages of cephalic segments (labrum, antenna, mandible, maxilla, and labium), thoracic segments (thoracic legs), and all abdominal segments except the tenth segment (pleuropodia and proleg primordia). The present results indicate that Ar dpp expression reflects the primary determination of embryonic appendages.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Professor Emeritus Kugao Oishi of Kobe University for critical reading of the manuscript. We thank Drs Hiroshi Sakamoto and Keiko Kosuge of Kobe University for kindly allowing us to use their facilities, and Ms Yukiko Yagihashi and Fumiko Karube for insect stock maintenance. This work was supported in part by a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers to J.M.L.

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Author notes

  1. Megumi Sumitani

    Present address: Department of Biology, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, 192-0397, Tokyo, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biosciences, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Nada, 657-8501, Kobe, Japan

    Daisuke S. Yamamoto & Megumi Sumitani

  2. Developmental Mechanisms Laboratory, Developmental Biology Department, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Owashi, 305-8634, Tsukuba, Japan

    Koji Tojo, Jae Min Lee & Masatsugu Hatakeyama

Authors
  1. Daisuke S. Yamamoto
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  2. Megumi Sumitani
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  3. Koji Tojo
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  4. Jae Min Lee
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  5. Masatsugu Hatakeyama
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masatsugu Hatakeyama.

Additional information

Edited by D. Tautz

The sequence reported in this paper has been deposited in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank database with the accession number AB121072

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Yamamoto, D.S., Sumitani, M., Tojo, K. et al. Cloning of a decapentaplegic orthologue from the sawfly, Athalia rosae (Hymenoptera), and its expression in the embryonic appendages. Dev Genes Evol 214, 128–133 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-004-0387-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-004-0387-3

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