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DmMyD88 controls dorsoventral patterning of the Drosophila embryo
Author(s) -
Kambris Zakaria,
Bilak Hana,
D'Alessandro Rosalba,
Belvin Marcia,
Imler JeanLuc,
Capovilla Maria
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1038/sj.embor.embor714
Subject(s) - biology , mutant , embryo , microbiology and biotechnology , signal transduction , mutation , receptor , genetics , signal transducing adaptor protein , gene
MyD88 is an adapter protein in the signal transduction pathway mediated by interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) and Toll‐like receptors. A Drosophila homologue of MyD88 ( DmMyD88 ) was recently shown to be required for the Toll‐mediated immune response. In Drosophila , the Toll pathway was originally characterized for its role in the dorsoventral patterning of the embryo. We found that, like Toll , DmMyD88 messenger RNA is maternally supplied to the embryo. Here we report the identification of a new mutant allele of DmMyD88 , which generates a protein lacking the carboxy‐terminal extension, normally located downstream of the Toll/IL‐1 receptor domain. Homozygous mutant female flies lay dorsalized embryos that are rescued by expression of a transgenic DmMyD88 complementary DNA. The DmMyD88 mutation blocks the ventralizing activity of a gain‐of‐function Toll mutation. These results show that DmMyD88 encodes an essential component of the Toll pathway in dorsoventral pattern formation.