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- Title
Drosophila Calmodulin Mutants With Specific Defects in the Musculature or in the Nervous System.
- Authors
Bo Wang; Sullivan, Kathleen M.C.; Beckingham, Kathy
- Abstract
We have studied lethal mutations in the single calmodulin gene (Cam) of Drosophila to gain insight into the in vivo functions of this important calcium sensor. As a result of maternal calmodulin (CaM) in the mature egg, lethality is delayed until the postembryonic stages. Prior to death in the first larval instar, Cam nulls show a striking behavioral abnormality (spontaneous backward movement) whereas a mutation, Cam[sup 7], that results in a single amino acid change (V91G) produces a very, different phenotype: short indented pupal cases and pupal death with head eversion defects. We show here that the null behavioral phenotype originates in the nervous system and involves a CaM function that requires calcium binding to all four sites of the protein. Further, backward movement can be induced in bypomorphic mutants by exposure to high light levels. In contrast, the V91G mutation specifically affects the musculature and causes abnormal calcium release in response to depolarization of the muscles. Genetic interaction studies suggest that failed regulation of the muscle calcium release channel, the ryanodine receptor, is the major defect underlying the Cam[sup 7] phenotype.
- Subjects
DROSOPHILA; CALMODULIN; GENETIC mutation; MUSCLES; NERVOUS system; GENES
- Publication
Genetics, 2003, Vol 165, Issue 3, p1255
- ISSN
0016-6731
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/genetics/165.3.1255