title: The essential requirement of an animal heme peroxidase protein during the wing maturation process in Drosophila.
abstract: Thus far, a handful of genes have been shown to be related to the wing maturation process in insects. A novel heme peroxidase enzyme known as curly suppressor (Cysu)(formerly CG5873), have been characterized in this report because it is involved in wing morphogenesis. Using bioinformatics tools we found that Cysu is remarkably conserved in the genus Drosophila (>95%) as well as in invertebrates (>70%), although its vertebrate orthologs show poor homology. Time-lapse imaging and histochemical analyses have confirmed that the defective wing phenotype of Cysu is not a result of any underlying cellular alterations; instead, its wings fail to expand in mature adults.
  
  
  
  The precise requirement of Cysu in wings was established by identifying a bona fide mutant of Cysu from the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Centre collection. Its requirement in the wing has also been shown by RNA knockdown of the gene. Subsequent transgenic rescue of the mutant wing phenotype with the wild-type gene confirmed the phenotype resulting from Cysu mutant. With appropriate GAL4 driver like engrailed-GAL4, the Cysu phenotype was compartmentalized, which raises a strong possibility that Cysu is not localized in the extracellular matrix (ECM); hence, Cysu is not engaged in bonding the dorsal and ventral cuticular layers. Finally, shortened lifespan of the Cysu mutant suggests it is functionally essential for other biological processes as well.
  
  
  
  Cysu, a peroxinectin-like gene, is required during the wing maturation process in Drosophila because as a heme peroxidase, Cysu is capable of utilizing H2O2, which plays an essential role in post-eclosion wing morphogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Howard University, 415 College Street, 20059, Washington, DC, NW, USA.|Present address: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Dondra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Howard University, 415 College Street, 20059, Washington, DC, NW, USA.
authors.forename: Mohammed Abul
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Basar
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Howard University, 415 College Street, 20059, Washington, DC, NW, USA.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nag
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Howard University, 415 College Street, 20059, Washington, DC, NW, USA.
authors.forename: Nivedita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bondhu
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Howard University, 415 College Street, 20059, Washington, DC, NW, USA.
authors.forename: Shaloei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Howard University, 415 College Street, 20059, Washington, DC, NW, USA. aduttaroy@howard.edu.
authors.forename: Atanu
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4202-7773
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duttaroy
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D009154:Mutation; D010544:Peroxidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D010544:Peroxidases; C000626765:cysu protein, Drosophila
keywords: Cysu; Drosophila; Oxidase; Peroxidase; Wing development