title: Receptor serine/threonine kinases implicated in the control of Drosophila body pattern by decapentaplegic.
abstract: Members of the TGF beta superfamily of secreted signaling molecules regulate growth and cellular patterning during development and interact with specific type I and type II membrane receptors possessing a cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinase domain. We describe two members of the type I receptor family in Drosophila and demonstrate that they are encoded by the genes saxophone (sax) and thick veins (tkv). Further, we show that mutations that abolish sax or tkv activity cause phenotypes similar to partial or complete loss of activity, respectively, of the TGF beta homolog decapentaplegic (dpp). We propose that specification of distinct cell fates in response to different concentrations of dpp may be achieved combinatorially by the sax and tkv receptors.
authors.affiliation: Zoologisches Institut Universität Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nellen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Affolter
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Basler
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics; D007301:Insect Hormones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D010641:Phenotype; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007301:Insect Hormones; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta; C064196:dpp protein, Drosophila; C086338:sax protein, Drosophila; C090169:tkv protein, Drosophila; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases