The gene network determining development of Drosophila melanogaster mechanoreceptors

Macrochaetes (large bristles), functioning as mechanoreceptors, are located in an orderly fashion on the drosophila head and body forming a species-specific bristle pattern. A simple organization of each bristle organ, comprising only four specialized cells, and conservation of bristle pattern make macrochaetes a convenient model for studying the development patterns of spatial structures with a fixed number of elements at certain positions and the mechanisms of cell differentiation. In this work, we systematize the experimental data on the main genes and their products that are involved in the control of proneural clusters in the ectoderm of imaginal discs and determination of the sensory organ precursor (SOP) cell within the proneural clusters. The computer system GeneNet was used to reconstruct the gene network controlling these stages of macrochaete development, which are critical for the formation of a correct bristle pattern. The role of achaete-scute complex and EGFR and Notch signaling pathways and the regulatory mechanisms acting in this gene network are discussed.