In addition to a role in segmentation Dichaete is expressed very strongly in the developing central nervous system, in particular in the lateral neuroectoderm, in the ventral midline and in the brain. We don't know very much about what it's doing in the lateral neuroectoderm but in the midline we have a pretty good idea. When Dichaete is lost from the midline the nervous system collapses and we have shown that this is due to a defect in midline glial cells. Interestingly, we can rescue this phenotype by providing mouse SOX2 in the midline of Dichaete mutants, indicating that these genes are functionally conserved. In mammals SOX2 interacts with a POU domain transcription factor, OCT3, and we have shown that Dichaete interacts genetically with the Drosophila POU gene ventral veinless .
Dichaete mutants have defective central nervous systems.
Axons of the CNS are labelled with BP102 and the midline glia with the enhancer trap AA142. Dichaete in the hindgut Dichaete is required for the correct differentiation of the embryonic hindgut. In this role we have shown that Dichaete is required for the correct expression of both hedgehog and decapentaplegic . Our data suggest that the morphological defects found in Dichaete mutant hindguts may be a consequence of the loss of dpp expression since we can partially rescue null Dichaete hindgut phenotypes by supplying dpp . Late Dichaete expression in the brain and hindgut.