TY - JOUR T1 - A New Prospero and <em>microRNA-279</em> Pathway Restricts CO<sub>2</sub> Receptor Neuron Formation JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 15660 LP - 15673 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2592-11.2011 VL - 31 IS - 44 AU - Marion Hartl AU - Laura F. Loschek AU - Daniel Stephan AU - K. P. Siju AU - Christiane Knappmeyer AU - Ilona C. Grunwald Kadow Y1 - 2011/11/02 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/44/15660.abstract N2 - CO2 sensation represents an interesting example of nervous system and behavioral evolutionary divergence. The underlying molecular mechanisms, however, are not understood. Loss of microRNA-279 in Drosophila melanogaster leads to the formation of a CO2 sensory system partly similar to the one of mosquitoes. Here, we show that a novel allele of the pleiotropic transcription factor Prospero resembles the miR-279 phenotype. We use a combination of genetics and in vitro and in vivo analysis to demonstrate that Pros participates in the regulation of miR-279 expression, and that reexpression of miR-279 rescues the pros CO2 neuron phenotype. We identify common target molecules of miR-279 and Pros in bioinformatics analysis, and show that overexpression of the transcription factors Nerfin-1 and Escargot (Esg) is sufficient to induce formation of CO2 neurons on maxillary palps. Our results suggest that Prospero restricts CO2 neuron formation indirectly via miR-279 and directly by repressing the shared target molecules, Nerfin-1 and Esg, during olfactory system development. Given the important role of Pros in differentiation of the nervous system, we anticipate that miR-mediated signal tuning represents a powerful method for olfactory sensory system diversification during evolution. ER -