We conducted a large-scale screen for Drosophila mutants that have structural abnormalities of the larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ). We recovered mutations in wishful thinking (wit), a gene that positively regulates synaptic growth. wit encodes a BMP type II receptor. In wit mutant larvae, the size of the NMJs is greatly reduced relative to the size of the muscles. wit NMJs have reduced evoked excitatory junctional potentials, decreased levels of the synaptic cell adhesion molecule Fasciclin II, and synaptic membrane detachment at active zones. Wit is expressed by a subset of neurons, including motoneurons. The NMJ phenotype is specifically rescued by transgenic expression of Wit only in motoneurons. Thus, Wit appears to function as a presynaptic receptor that regulates synaptic size at the Drosophila NMJ.
Pubmed ID: 11856529 RIS Download
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Database on the sequence of the euchromatic genome of Drosophila melanogaster In addition to genomic sequencing, the BDGP is 1) producing gene disruptions using P element-mediated mutagenesis on a scale unprecedented in metazoans; 2) characterizing the sequence and expression of cDNAs; and 3) developing informatics tools that support the experimental process, identify features of DNA sequence, and allow us to present up-to-date information about the annotated sequence to the research community. Resources * Universal Proteomics Resource: Search for clones for expression and tissue culture * Materials: Request genomic or cDNA clones, library filters or fly stocks * Download Sequence data sets and annotations in fasta or xml format by http or ftp * Publications: Browse or download BDGP papers * Methods: BDGP laboratory protocols and vector maps * Analysis Tools: Search sequences for CRMs, promoters, splice sites, and gene predictions * Apollo: Genome annotation viewer and editor September 15, 2009 Illumina RNA-Seq data from 30 developmental time points of D. melanogaster has been submitted to the Short Read Archive at NCBI as part of the modENCODE project. The data set currently contains 2.2 billion single-end and paired reads and over 201 billion base pairs.
View all literature mentionsThis monoclonal targets Mouse Drosophila wit
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