Arrest is a regulator of fiber-specific alternative splicing in the indirect flight muscles of Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila melanogaster flight muscles are distinct from other skeletal muscles, such as jump muscles, and express several uniquely spliced muscle-associated transcripts. We sought to identify factors mediating splicing differences between the flight and jump muscle fiber types. We found that the ribonucleic acid-binding protein Arrest (Aret) is expressed in flight muscles: in founder cells, Aret accumulates in a novel intranuclear compartment that we termed the Bruno body, and after the onset of muscle differentiation, Aret disperses in the nucleus. Down-regulation of the aret gene led to ultrastructural changes and functional impairment of flight muscles, and transcripts of structural genes expressed in the flight muscles became spliced in a manner characteristic of jump muscles. Aret al

SUBMITTER: Oas ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4178973 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature