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Glial cell adhesive molecule unzipped mediates axon guidance in Drosophila
Author(s) -
Ding ZhaoYing,
Wang YingHsuan,
Luo ZhaoKai,
Lee HueiFang,
Hwang Jaulang,
Chien ChengTing,
Huang MinLang
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.22508
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , axon guidance , axon , mutant , wnt signaling pathway , embryonic stem cell , cell adhesion molecule , slit , nervous system , cell adhesion , schneider 2 cells , cell , gene , genetics , signal transduction , neuroscience , rna , rna interference
Axon guidance needs help from the glial cell system during embryogenesis. In the Drosophila embryonic central nervous system (CNS), longitudinal glia (LG) have been implicated in axon guidance but the mechanism remains unclear. We identified the protein encoded by the Drosophila gene unzipped ( uzip ) as a novel cell adhesion molecule (CAM). Uzip expressed in Drosophila S2 cells triggered cell aggregation through homophilic binding. In the embryonic CNS, Uzip was mainly produced by the LG but was also located at axons, which is consistent with the secretion of Uzip expressed in cultured cells. Although uzip mutants displayed no axonal defect, loss of uzip enhanced the axonal defects in the mutant of N‐cadherin ( CadN ) and the Wnt gene family member wnt5 . Overexpression of uzip could rescue the phenotype in the CadN uzip D43 mutant. Thus, Uzip is a novel CAM from the LG regulating axon guidance. Developmental Dynamics, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.