Novel metalloprotease-disintegrin, meltrin epsilon (ADAM35), expressed in epithelial tissues during chick embryogenesis.
Members of the ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) family are involved in fertilization, morphogenesis, and pathogenesis. Their metalloprotease domains mediate limited proteolysis, including ectodomain shedding of membrane-anchored growth factors and intercellular-signaling proteins, and their disintegrin domains play regulatory roles in cell adhesion and migration. In screening for cDNAs encoding chicken ADAM proteins expressed during muscle development, we identified Meltrin epsilon as a novel member of this family. To elucidate its functions, we investigated its expression during development by using antibodies raised against its protease domain. In the somites, Meltrin epsilon protein was specifically expressed in the myotomal cells, which delaminate from the dermomyotome to form epithelial sheets. It was also found in the surface ectoderm, lens placodes, otic vesicles, and the gut epithelia. Basolateral localization of Meltrin epsilon in these epithelial cells suggests its unique roles in the organization of the epithelial tissues and development of the sensory organs and the gut.
Watabe-Uchida
Mitsuko
M
Department of Growth Regulation, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Masuda
Aki
A
Shimada
Naoko
N
Endo
Masateru
M
Shimamura
Kenji
K
Yasuda
Kunio
K
Sehara-Fujisawa
Atsuko
A
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D019483:Disintegrins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D019483:Disintegrins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases