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Spalt mediates an evolutionarily conserved switch to fibrillar muscle fate in insects

Author

Listed:
  • Cornelia Schönbauer

    (Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

  • Jutta Distler

    (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany)

  • Nina Jährling

    (Vienna University of Technology, FKE, Dept. of Bioelectronics, Floragasse 7, 1040 Vienna, Austria
    Medical University of Vienna, Center for Brain Research, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria)

  • Martin Radolf

    (Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Dr. Bohrgasse 7, 1030 Vienna, Austria)

  • Hans-Ulrich Dodt

    (Vienna University of Technology, FKE, Dept. of Bioelectronics, Floragasse 7, 1040 Vienna, Austria
    Medical University of Vienna, Center for Brain Research, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria)

  • Manfred Frasch

    (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany)

  • Frank Schnorrer

    (Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

Abstract

A gene to power insect flight The indirect flight muscles of flying insects have evolved to power insects' wings through as many as 1,000 oscillations per second and to produce extreme mechanical forces. These exquisitely specialized muscles contain fibrillar, stretch-activated myofibres that are very different from the tubular muscles found elsewhere in the insect's body. A genome-wide RNA interference screen for muscle morphogenesis in Drosophila has identified the transcription factor Spalt major (Salm) as a master regulator of fibrillar flight-muscle fate. Salm switches the structure of muscles from tubular to fibrillar during development by regulating gene transcription and splicing. The spalt gene is conserved in insects that are separated by 280 million years of evolution, and the fact that mutations in the human spalt-like gene SALL1 cause heart abnormalities in Townes–Brocks syndrome suggests that spalt function might also determine fibrillar stretch-activated muscle in vertebrates.

Suggested Citation

  • Cornelia Schönbauer & Jutta Distler & Nina Jährling & Martin Radolf & Hans-Ulrich Dodt & Manfred Frasch & Frank Schnorrer, 2011. "Spalt mediates an evolutionarily conserved switch to fibrillar muscle fate in insects," Nature, Nature, vol. 479(7373), pages 406-409, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:479:y:2011:i:7373:d:10.1038_nature10559
    DOI: 10.1038/nature10559
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