Vertebrate orthologues of the Drosophila region-specific patterning gene teashirt

In Drosophila the teashirt gene, coding for a zinc finger protein, is activ e in specific body parts for patterning. For example, Teashirt is required in the trunk (thorax and abdomen) tagmata of the embryo, parts of the intes tine and the proximal parts of appendages. Here we report the isolation of vertebrate cDNAs related to teashirt. As in Drosophila, human and murine pr oteins possess three widely spaced zinc finger motifs. Additionally, we des cribe the expression patterns of the two murine genes. Both genes show regi onalised patterns of expression, in the trunk, in the developing limbs and the gut. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.