Mutations altering the structure of epidermal growth factor-like coding sequences at the Drosophila Notch locus.
The Drosophila neurogenic protein Notch is largely composed of tandemly repeated copies of an epidermal growth factor-like sequence. Notch protein contains 36 EGF-like elements, but no two are identical. In the present study, eight mutations are correlated with single amino acid substitutions in EGF-homologous elements of this protein. Genetic analyses of the mutations and comparisons of DNA from mutant and wild-type flies indicate that differentiation of function exists among the tandemly repeated EGF-like sequences and that the total number of repeats and minor variations from the consensus repeat sequence are important for wild-type Notch protein function. One group of EGF-like repeats may be involved in the formation of functional Notch dimers or multimeric proteins. EGF-like elements in a second region of the Notch protein appear to govern its interaction with the product of Enhancer of split, another neurogenic locus of D. melanogaster.
D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005796:Genes; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D006133:Growth Substances; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor