|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
© The Rockefeller University Press,
0021-9525/1999//1063 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 145, Number 5,
, 1999 1063-1076
Regular Articles |
The Heterotrimeric Protein Go Is Required for the Formation of Heart Epithelium in Drosophila
The gene encoding the
In the nervous system, the expression of Go
Mutants produced in the Go
subunit of the Drosophila Go protein is expressed early in embryogenesis in the precursor cells of the heart tube, of the visceral muscles, and of the nervous system. This early expression coincides with the onset of the mesenchymal-epithelial transition to which are subjected the cardial cells and the precursor cells of the visceral musculature. This gene constitutes an appropriate marker to follow this transition. In addition, a detailed analysis of its expression suggests that the cardioblasts originate from two subpopulations of cells in each parasegment of the dorsal mesoderm that might depend on the wingless and hedgehog signaling pathways for both their determination and specification. shortly precedes the beginning of axonogenesis. gene harbor abnormalities in the three tissues in which the gene is expressed. In particular, the heart does not form properly and interruptions in the heart epithelium are repeatedly observed, henceforth the brokenheart (bkh) name. Furthermore, in the bkh mutant embryos, the epithelial polarity of cardial cells was not acquired (or maintained) in various places of the cardiac tube. We predict that bkh might be involved in vesicular traffic of membrane proteins that is responsible for the acquisition of polarity.
Key Words: heterotrimeric protein Go • Drosophila • heart epithelium • cell polarity • signal transduction
Abbreviations used in this paper: CNS, central nervous system; DIG, digoxigenin; PNS, peripheral nervous system.
Our thanks are due to Drs. Goodman, Frasch, Giniger, and Kiss for their generous gifts of strains used in this work, to the Bloomington Stocks Center that sent us stock flies and the BDGP that sent us the DS01583 P1 phage. We thank Drs. Kiehart, Piovant, Frasch, and N'Guyen for their gifts of some of the antibodies mentioned herein. Anti–Fas II, –Fas III, -En, and -Eve antibodies were provided by the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank in Baltimore. We acknowledge S. Long and F. Graziani for their technical assistance in the food preparation for the maintenance of the stock flies. We are deeply indebted to Dr. D. Gratecos for her help in the preparation and drafting of the manuscript.
S. Zaffran's present address is Brookdale Center for Developmental and Molecular Biology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Box 1126, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029. A. Guillèn's present address is Departamento de Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular I, Facultad de Biologia, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain. V. Homburger's present address is Centre CNRS-INSERM de Pharmacologie et Endocrinologie, 141, Rue de la Cardonille, F-34094, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
