Impact of Ultrabithorax alternative splicing on Drosophila embryonic nervous system development.

Hox genes control divergent segment identities along the anteroposterior body axis of bilateral animals by regulating a large number of processes in a cell context-specific manner. How Hox proteins achieve this functional diversity is a long-standing question in developmental biology. In this study we investigate the role of alternative splicing in functional specificity of the Drosophila Hox gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx). We focus specifically on the embryonic central nervous system (CNS) and provide a description of temporal expression patterns of three major Ubx isoforms during development of this tissue. These analyses imply distinct functions for individual isoforms in different stages of n…