MAMMALIAN AND DROSOPHILA DACHSHUND GENES ARE RELATED TO THE SKI PROTOONCOGENE AND ARE EXPRESSED IN EYE AND LIMB

We have isolated mammalian homologues of the Drosophila dachshund gene . Two domains of high conservation, one of which contains an alpha-hel ical, coiled-coil motif, show similarity to the Ski family of genes. W e therefore propose that Dachshund belongs to a superfamily including these genes. Mouse Dachshund (Dach) is expressed in the eye and limb, structures affected by the Drosophila loss-of-function mutant, and rib primordia, CNS and genital eminence. Pax6 and Dach show overlapping b ut non-identical expression patterns. Dach expression is unaffected in smalleye mouse brain, indicating that Pax6 is not directly activating Dach. In Drosophila eye development dachshund is a component of an in teracting network of proteins. Genes homologous to many of these exist in mammals; Dach joins this expanding group. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.