The mei-41 gene of D. melanogaster is a structural and functional homolog of the human ataxia telangiectasia gene.
The D. melanogaster mei-41 gene is required for DNA repair, mitotic chromosome stability, and normal levels of meiotic recombination in oocytes. Here we show that the predicted mei-41 protein is similar in sequence to the ATM (ataxia telangiectasia) protein from humans and to the yeast rad3 and Mec1p proteins. There is also extensive functional overlap between mei-41 and ATM. Like ATM-deficient cells, mei-41 cells are exquisitely sensitive to ionizing radiation and display high levels of mitotic chromosome instability. We also demonstrate that mei-41 cells, like ATM-deficient cells, fail to show an irradiation-induced delay in the entry into mitosis that is characteristic of normal cells. Thus, the mei-41 gene of Drosophila may be considered to be a functional homolog of the human ATM gene.
Hari
K L
KL
Department of Genetics, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
Santerre
A
A
Sekelsky
J J
JJ
McKim
K S
KS
Boyd
J B
JB
Hawley
R S
RS
D000818:Animals; D001260:Ataxia Telangiectasia / Q000235:genetics*; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000528:radiation effects; D010641:Phenotype; D010770:Phosphotransferases / Q000235:genetics; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000235:genetics; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D010770:Phosphotransferases; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); C576324:ATM protein, human; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases