Open AccessMyoblast city, the Drosophila homolog of DOCK180/CED-5, is required in a Rac signaling pathway utilized for multiple developmental processes
Author(s) -
Katherine M. Nolan,
Kathy Barrett,
Yu Lu,
KangQuan Hu,
Sylvie Vincent,
Jeffrey Settleman
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
genes and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.136
H-Index - 438
eISSN - 1549-5477
pISSN - 0890-9369
DOI - 10.1101/gad.12.21.3337
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , myogenesis , cdc42 , rac gtp binding proteins , regulator , guanine nucleotide exchange factor , genetics , gtpase , effector , signal transduction , rac1 , myocyte , gene
The Rac and Cdc42 GTPases share several regulators and effectors, yet perform distinct biological functions. The factors determining such specificity in vivo have not been identified. In a mutational screen in Drosophila to identify Rac-specific signaling components, we isolated 11 alleles of myoblast city ( mbc ). mbc mutant embryos exhibit defects in dorsal closure, myogenesis, and neural development. DOCK180, the mammalian homolog of Mbc, associates with Rac, but not Cdc42, in a nucleotide-independent manner. These results suggest that Mbc is a specific upstream regulator of Rac activity that mediates several morphogenetic processes in Drosophila embryogenesis.