Gastrulation defective is a serine protease involved in activating the receptor toll to polarize the Drosophila embryo.
The dorsoventral axis of the Drosophila embryo is induced by a ventrally restricted ligand for the receptor Toll. The Toll ligand is generated by a proteolytic processing reaction, which occurs at the end of a proteolytic cascade and requires the gastrulation defective (gd), nudel, pipe, and windbeutel genes. Here we demonstrate that the GD protein is a serine protease and that the three other genes act to restrict GD activity to the ventral side of the embryo. Our data support a model in which the GD protease catalyzes the ventral activation of the proteolytic cascade that produces the Toll ligand.
Han
J H
JH
Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Lee
S H
SH
Tan
Y Q
YQ
LeMosy
E K
EK
Hashimoto
C
C
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D047108:Embryonic Development; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000502:physiology*; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C068721:Tl protein, Drosophila; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases