title: Cullin-5 and cullin-2 play a role in the development of neuromuscular junction and the female germ line of Drosophila.
abstract: Cullins confer substrate specificity to E3-ligases which are multi-protein complexes involved in ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation or modification. There are six cullin genes in Drosophila melanogaster. We have raised an antibody against Cul-5 and demonstrated that it expresses in neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout development. In the embryonic tracheal system, Cul-5 is enriched at fusion sites together with E-Cadherin and Fasciclin III. Mutations of cul-5 do not affect tracheal development but do show defects in the organization of synaptic boutons at the larval neuromuscular junction where the protein is expressed in a subset of motoneuron terminals. Loss of function of another cullin gene 'cul-2' results in similar defects at the larval neuromuscular junction although cul-2;cul-5 double mutants do not show an enhanced phenotype. Both cul-2 and cul-5 mutants show similar aberrations in the development of female germ line. Our results suggest that both of these cullin proteins participate in similar developmental processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, India. kali@tifr.res.in
authors.forename: Champakali
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ayyub
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D044842:Cullin Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D040461:Gene Components; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D009866:Oogenesis; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010053:Ovary / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014132:Trachea / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C569004:Cul2 protein, Drosophila; C550765:Cul5 protein, Drosophila; D044842:Cullin Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins