A mucin-type O-glycosyltransferase modulates cell adhesion during Drosophila development.

ABSTRACT: Cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion are crucial during many stages of eukaryotic development. Here, we provide the first example that mucin-type O-linked glycosylation is involved in a developmentally regulated cell adhesion event in Drosophila melanogaster. Mutations in one member of the evolutionarily conserved family of enzymes that initiates O-linked glycosylation alter epithelial cell adhesion in the Drosophila wing blade. A transposon insertion mutation in pgant3 or RNA interference to pgant3 resulted in blistered wings, a phenotype characteristic of genes involved in integrin-mediated cell interactions. Expression of wild type pgant3 in the mutant background rescued the wing blistering phenotype, whereas expression of another family member (pgant35A) did not, revealing a unique requi

SUBMITTER: Zhang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2590710 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature