Spatio-temporal pattern of cells expressing the clock genes period and timeless and the lineages of period expressing neurons in the embryonic CNS of Drosophila melanogaster.

The initial steps towards the generation of cell diversity in the central nervous system of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster take place during early phases of embryonic development when a stereotypic population of neural progenitor cells (neuroblasts and midline precursors) is formed in a precise spatial and temporal pattern, and subsequently expresses a particular sequence of genes. The clarification of the positional, temporal and molecular features of the individual progenitor cells in the nerve cord and brain as well as of their specific types of neuronal and/or glial progeny cells forms an essential basis to understand the mechanisms controlling their development. The present study…