@article{carrell_michael d. o'connell_jacobsen_pomeroy_hayes_reeves_2017, title={A facilitated diffusion mechanism establishes the Drosophila Dorsal gradient}, volume={144}, ISSN={["1477-9129"]}, DOI={10.1242/dev.155549}, abstractNote={The transcription factor NF-κB plays an important role in the immune system, apoptosis and inflammation. Dorsal, a Drosophila homolog of NF-κB, patterns the dorsal-ventral axis in the blastoderm embryo. During this stage, Dorsal is sequestered outside the nucleus by the IκB homolog Cactus. Toll signaling on the ventral side breaks the Dorsal/Cactus complex, allowing Dorsal to enter the nucleus to regulate target genes. Fluorescent data show that Dorsal accumulates on the ventral side of the syncytial blastoderm. Here, we use modeling and experimental studies to show that this accumulation is caused by facilitated diffusion, or shuttling, of the Dorsal/Cactus complex. We also show that active Toll receptors are limiting in wild-type embryos, which is a key factor in explaining global Dorsal gradient formation. Our results suggest that shuttling is necessary for viability of embryos from mothers with compromised dorsal levels. Therefore, Cactus not only has the primary role of regulating Dorsal nuclear import, but also has a secondary role in shuttling. Given that this mechanism has been found in other, independent, systems, we suggest that it might be more prevalent than previously thought. Summary: Dorsal, a transcription factor that patterns the Drosophila dorsal-ventral axis, accumulates at the embryo ventral midline. Here, model-guided experiments show that the inhibitor Cactus shuttles Dorsal to the ventral side.}, number={23}, journal={DEVELOPMENT}, author={Carrell, Sophia N. and Michael D. O'Connell and Jacobsen, Thomas and Pomeroy, Amy E. and Hayes, Stephanie M. and Reeves, Gregory T.}, year={2017}, month={Dec}, pages={4450–4461} } @article{carrell_reeves_2015, title={Imaging the dorsal-ventral axis of live and fixed Drosophila melanogaster embryos}, volume={1189}, journal={Tissue morphogenesis: methods and protocols}, author={Carrell, S. N. and Reeves, G. T.}, year={2015}, pages={63–78} }