title: IMP-L2: an essential secreted immunoglobulin family member implicated in neural and ectodermal development in Drosophila.
abstract: The Drosophila IMP-L2 gene was identified as a 20-hydroxyecdysone-induced gene encoding a membrane-bound polysomal transcript. IMP-L2 is an apparent secreted member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. We have used deficiencies that remove the IMP-L2 gene to demonstrate that IMP-L2 is essential in Drosophila. The viability of IMP-L2 null zygotes is influenced by maternal IMP-L2. IMP-L2 null progeny from IMP-L2+ mothers exhibit a semilethal phenotype. IMP-L2 null progeny from IMP-L2 null mothers are 100% lethal. An IMP-L2 transgene completely suppresses the zygotic lethal phenotype and partially suppresses the lethality of IMP-L2 null progeny from IMP-L2 null mothers. In embryos, IMP-L2 mRNA is first expressed at the cellular blastoderm stage and continues to be expressed through subsequent development. IMP-L2 mRNA is detected in several sites including the ventral neuroectoderm, the tracheal pits, the pharynx and esophagus, and specific neuronal cell bodies. Staining of whole-mount embryos with anti-IMP-L2 antibodies shows that IMP-L2 protein is localized to specific neuronal structures late in embryogenesis. Expression of IMP-L2 protein in neuronal cells suggests a role in the normal development of the nervous system but no severe morphological abnormalities have been detected in IMP-L2 null embryos.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Garbe
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Fristrom
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D009420:Nervous System / Q000196:embryology*; D010641:Phenotype; D016415:Sequence Alignment