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Epigenetics Nov 2020Ten-eleven Translocation (TET) proteins have emerged as a family of epigenetic regulators that are important during development and have been implicated in various types... (Review)
Review
Ten-eleven Translocation (TET) proteins have emerged as a family of epigenetic regulators that are important during development and have been implicated in various types of cancers. TET is a highly conserved protein that has orthologues in almost all multicellular organisms. Here, we review recent literature on the novel substrate specificity of this family of DNA 5-methylcytosine demethylases on DNA 6-methyladenine and RNA 5-methylcytosine that were first identified in the invertebrate model . We focus on the biological role of these novel epigenetic marks in the fruit fly and mammals and highlight TET proteins' critical function during development specifically in brain development.
Topics: Animals; DNA Methylation; Drosophila; Drosophila Proteins; Epigenesis, Genetic; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Mixed Function Oxygenases
PubMed: 32419604
DOI: 10.1080/15592294.2020.1767323 -
Current Biology : CB Jan 2011
Topics: Animals; Cell Survival; Drosophila; Drosophila Proteins; Gene Expression Regulation; Mutation; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 21215926
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.11.030 -
Current Opinion in Cell Biology Oct 2016Apico-basal polarity is a hallmark of epithelial tissues. The integrated activity of several evolutionarily conserved protein complexes is essential to control... (Review)
Review
Apico-basal polarity is a hallmark of epithelial tissues. The integrated activity of several evolutionarily conserved protein complexes is essential to control epithelial polarity during development and homeostasis. Many components of these protein complexes were originally identified in genetic screens performed in Drosophila or Caenorhabditis elegans due to defects in cell polarity. With time, it became obvious that these protein complexes not only control various aspects of apico-basal polarity, but also perform a plethora of other functions, such as growth control, organization of endocytic activity, regulation of signaling and asymmetric cell division, to mention just a few. Here we summarize some results mostly obtained from studies in Drosophila to elucidate how variation in protein composition and modification of individual components contribute to make polarity complexes versatile platforms to fulfill a variety of functions.
Topics: Animals; Cell Polarity; Drosophila Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Epithelial Cells; Models, Biological
PubMed: 27085003
DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2016.03.018 -
Developmental Biology May 2016Regulated Apoptosis (Programmed Cell Death, PCD) maintains tissue homeostasis in adults, and ensures proper growth and morphogenesis of tissues during development of...
Regulated Apoptosis (Programmed Cell Death, PCD) maintains tissue homeostasis in adults, and ensures proper growth and morphogenesis of tissues during development of metazoans. Accordingly, defects in cellular processes triggering or executing apoptotic programs have been implicated in a variety of degenerative and neoplastic diseases. Here, we report the identification of DCAF12, an evolutionary conserved member of the WD40-motif repeat family of proteins, as a new regulator of apoptosis in Drosophila. We find that DCAF12 is required for Diap1 cleavage in response to pro-apoptotic signals, and is thus necessary and sufficient for RHG (Reaper, Hid, and Grim)-mediated apoptosis. Loss of DCAF12 perturbs the elimination of supernumerary or proliferation-impaired cells during development, and enhances tumor growth induced by loss of neoplastic tumor suppressors, highlighting the wide requirement for DCAF12 in PCD.
Topics: Alleles; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Apoptosis; Caspases; Cell Proliferation; Crosses, Genetic; Drosophila Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Female; Gene Deletion; Homeostasis; Homozygote; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; Male; Metamorphosis, Biological; Morphogenesis; Mutation; Phenotype; Retina
PubMed: 26972874
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.03.003 -
PloS One 2017Drosophila Wingless (Wg) is a morphogen that determines cell fate during development. Previous studies have shown that endocytic pathways regulate Wg trafficking and...
Drosophila Wingless (Wg) is a morphogen that determines cell fate during development. Previous studies have shown that endocytic pathways regulate Wg trafficking and signaling. Here, we showed that loss of vamp7, a gene required for vesicle fusion, dramatically increased Wg levels and decreased Wg signaling. Interestingly, we found that levels of Dally-like (Dlp), a glypican that can interact with Wg to suppress Wg signaling at the dorsoventral boundary of the Drosophila wing, were also increased in vamp7 mutant cells. Moreover, Wg puncta in Rab4-dependent recycling endosomes were Dlp positive. We hypothesize that VAMP7 is required for Wg intracellular trafficking and the accumulation of Wg in Rab4-dependent recycling endosomes might affect Wg signaling.
Topics: Animals; Biological Transport; Drosophila; Drosophila Proteins; R-SNARE Proteins; Signal Transduction; Wnt1 Protein
PubMed: 29065163
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186938 -
Genetika Jul 2011Studies in which Drosophila melanogaster individuals carrying transgenes of animal viruses were used to analyze the action of animal viral proteins on the cell are... (Review)
Review
Studies in which Drosophila melanogaster individuals carrying transgenes of animal viruses were used to analyze the action of animal viral proteins on the cell are reviewed. The data presented suggest that host specificity of viruses is determined by their proteins responsible for the penetration of the virus into the cell, while viral proteins responsible for interactions with the host cell are much less host-specific. Due to this, the model of Drosophila with its developed system of searching for genetic interactions can be used to find intracellular targets for the action of viral proteins of the second group.
Topics: Animals; Drosophila Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Humans; Models, Biological; Viral Proteins
PubMed: 21938949
DOI: No ID Found -
Insect Biochemistry and Molecular... Aug 2007The majority of cuticular protein sequences identified to date from a diversity of arthropods have a conserved region known as the Rebers and Riddiford Consensus (R&R...
The majority of cuticular protein sequences identified to date from a diversity of arthropods have a conserved region known as the Rebers and Riddiford Consensus (R&R Consensus). This consensus region has been used to query the whole genome sequence of Drosophila melanogaster. One hundred one putative cuticular proteins have been annotated. Of these, 29 had been annotated previously, and for several their authenticity as cuticular proteins had been verified by protein sequence data from isolated cuticles or by localization of their transcripts in epidermis when cuticle synthesis was occurring. The original names have been retained, and the 72 newly annotated proteins have been given names beginning with Cpr followed by the chromosomal band in which the gene is located. Proteins with the R&R Consensus can be split into three groups RR-1, RR-2 and RR-3, with some correlation to the type or region of the cuticle in which they occur. Previous classification was manual and subjective. We now have developed a tool using profile hidden Markov models that allows more objective classification. We describe the development and verification of the validity of this tool that is available at the cuticleDB website http://bioinformatics2.biol.uoa.gr/cuticleDB/index.jsp.
Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Consensus Sequence; Drosophila Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Markov Chains; Models, Genetic; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Analysis, Protein; Software
PubMed: 17628275
DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2007.03.007 -
Methods in Enzymology 2015The study of circadian behavior in model organisms is almost exclusively confined to the laboratory, where rhythmic phenotypes are studied under highly simplified... (Review)
Review
The study of circadian behavior in model organisms is almost exclusively confined to the laboratory, where rhythmic phenotypes are studied under highly simplified conditions such as constant darkness or rectangular light-dark cycles. Environmental cycles in nature are far more complex, and recent work in rodents and flies has revealed that when placed in natural/seminatural situations, circadian behavior shows unexpected features that are not consistent with laboratory observations. In addition, the recent observations of clockless mutants, both in terms of their circadian behavior and their Darwinian fitness, challenge some of the traditional beliefs derived from laboratory studies about what constitutes an adaptive circadian phenotype. Here, we briefly summarize the results of these newer studies and then describe how Drosophila behavior can be studied in the wild, pointing out solutions to some of the technical problems associated with extending locomotor monitoring to this unpredictable environment. We also briefly describe how to generate sophisticated simulations of natural light and temperature cycles that can be used to successfully mimic the fly's natural circadian behavior. We further clarify some misconceptions that have been raised in recent studies of natural fly behavior and show how these can be overcome with appropriate methodology. Finally, we describe some recent technical developments that will enhance the naturalistic study of fly circadian behavior.
Topics: Animals; Circadian Rhythm; Drosophila Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Gene Expression; Genetic Association Studies; Genetic Testing; Mutation; Phenotype
PubMed: 25662454
DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2014.10.001 -
Genetics Jan 2009The accessory gland proteins (Acps) of Drosophila have become a model for the study of reproductive protein evolution. A major step in the study of Acps is to identify...
The accessory gland proteins (Acps) of Drosophila have become a model for the study of reproductive protein evolution. A major step in the study of Acps is to identify biological causes and consequences of the observed patterns of molecular evolution by comparing species groups with different biology. Here we characterize the Acp complement of Drosophila mayaguana, a repleta group representative. Species of this group show important differences in ecology and reproduction as compared to other Drosophila. Our results show that the extremely high rates of Acp evolution previously found are likely to be ubiquitous among species of the repleta group. These evolutionary rates are considerably higher than the ones observed in other Drosophila groups' Acps. This disparity, however, is not accompanied by major differences in the estimated number of Acps or in the functional categories represented as previously suggested. Among the genes expressed in accessory glands of D. mayaguana almost half are likely products of recent duplications. This allowed us to test predictions of the neofunctionalization model for gene duplication and paralog evolution in a more or less constrained timescale. We found that positive selection is a strong force in the early divergence of these gene pairs.
Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Conserved Sequence; Drosophila; Drosophila Proteins; Evolution, Molecular; Expressed Sequence Tags; Gene Duplication; Genes, Insect; Multigene Family; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
PubMed: 19015541
DOI: 10.1534/genetics.108.096263 -
Neuron Aug 2007Whether CNS glial cells play an important role in the regulation of complex behaviors has been a longstanding question. In this issue of Neuron, Suh and Jackson... (Review)
Review
Whether CNS glial cells play an important role in the regulation of complex behaviors has been a longstanding question. In this issue of Neuron, Suh and Jackson demonstrate a circadian rhythmicity in glial expression of ebony, an N-beta-alanyl-biogenic amine synthase, and show that Ebony activity in glia is essential for the proper regulation of Drosophila circadian behavior.
Topics: Animals; Circadian Rhythm; DNA-Binding Proteins; Drosophila; Drosophila Proteins; Motor Activity; Neuroglia
PubMed: 17678846
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2007.07.014