Establishing and maintaining gene expression patterns: Insights from sensory receptor patterning

In visual and olfactory sensory systems with high discriminatory power, each sensory neuron typically expresses one, or very few, sensory receptor genes, excluding all others. Recent studies have provided insights into the mechanisms that generate and maintain sensory receptor expression patterns. Here, we review how this is achieved in the fly retina and compare it with the mechanisms controlling sensory receptor expression patterns in the mouse retina and in the mouse and fly olfactory systems.