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Identification of the Drosophila melanogaster homologue of the mammalian signal transducer protein, Vav
Author(s) -
Dekel Idit,
Russek Niva,
Jones Tamara,
Mortin Mark A.,
Katzav Shulamit
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(00)01413-7
Subject(s) - drosophila melanogaster , transducer , drosophila (subgenus) , identification (biology) , microbiology and biotechnology , signal (programming language) , melanogaster , biology , chemistry , biochemistry , physics , acoustics , computer science , gene , botany , programming language
Mammalian Vav signal transducer protein couples tyrosine kinase signals with the activation of the Rho/Rac GTPases, thus leading to cell differentiation and/or proliferation. We have isolated and characterized the DroVav gene, the homologue of h Vav in Drosophila melanogaster . DroVav encodes a protein (793 residues) whose similarity with hVav is 47% and with hVav2 and hVav3 is 45%. DroVav preserves the unique, complex structure of hVav proteins, including the ‘calponin homology’, dbl homology, pleckstrin homology; SH2 and SH3 domains in addition to regions that are acidic rich, proline rich and cysteine rich. DroVav is located on the X chromosome in polytene interval 18A5;18B and is expressed in all stages of development and in all tissues. In mammalian cells, DroVav is tyrosine‐phosphorylated in response to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) induction; in vitro, the DroVav SH2 region is associated with tyrosine‐phosphorylated EGFR. Thus, DroVav probably plays a pivotal role as a signal transducer protein during fruit fly development.