title: Dachs: an unconventional myosin that functions downstream of Fat to regulate growth, affinity and gene expression in Drosophila.
abstract: The dachs gene was first identified almost a century ago based on its requirements for appendage growth, but has been relatively little studied. Here, we describe the phenotypes of strong dachs mutations, report the cloning of the dachs gene, characterize the localization of Dachs protein, and investigate the relationship between Dachs and the Fat pathway. Mutation of dachs reduces, but does not abolish, the growth of legs and wings. dachs encodes an unconventional myosin that preferentially localizes to the membrane of imaginal disc cells. dachs mutations suppress the effects of fat mutations on gene expression, cell affinity and growth in imaginal discs. Dachs protein localization is influenced by Fat, Four-jointed and Dachsous, consistent with its genetic placement downstream of fat. However, dachs mutations have only mild tissue polarity phenotypes, and only partially suppress the tissue polarity defects of fat mutants. Our results implicate Dachs as a crucial downstream component of a Fat signaling pathway that influences growth, affinity and gene expression during development.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Waksman Institute and Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Yaopan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Cordelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rauskolb
authors.forename: Eunjoo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Wei-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayter
authors.forename: Ginny
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Minihan
authors.forename: Flora N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Irvine
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics*; D016764:Cell Polarity; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009218:Myosins / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C492999:dachs protein, Drosophila; C472307:ft protein, Drosophila; D009218:Myosins