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Zoologie-Entwicklungsbiologie, FB Biologie, Philipps-Universität, 35032 Marburg, FRG
In homozygous rolling stone embryos, the fusion of myoblasts to syncytial myotubes is diminished.
Nevertheless, the visceral mesoderm, the heart mesoderm, and few somatic muscles are properly formed.
Thus, we postulate a central role of rolling stone for the
fusion process within the somatic mesoderm. We have
cloned the rolling stone gene, and the deduced protein
sequence is in accordance with a transmembrane protein, which agrees with the enrichment of Rost in the
membrane fraction of Drosophila embryos. No homologous genes have been described so far. rolling stone is
expressed in the embryonic nervous system and cells of
the somatic mesoderm, most notable in muscle founder
cells. To elucidate the function of rolling stone for myoblast fusion, we applied a knock-out strategy. The expression of an antisense rolling stone transcript specifically within the mesoderm of wild-type embryos results
in fusion defects of myoblasts, proving that the rolling stone expression in the mesoderm is responsible for the
rolling stone phenotype. We suggest that rolling stone is
a member of a group of genes that are necessary for the
fusion process during myogenesis.
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