QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online May 8, 2008

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Lipids latch on to Wingless

Several signalling proteins, including members of the Wnt and Hedgehog families, are lipid-modified, which can affect both their secretion and their signalling activity. Wnt proteins are modified at two sites, an N-terminal cysteine and a centrally located serine. Both residues are conserved in the Drosophila Wnt protein Wingless, which is expected to undergo the same modifications. On page 1587, Jean-Paul Vincent and colleagues use imaginal wing discs to analyse the effect of lipidation on Wingless function in vivo. Using transgenic flies that express either [C93A]Wingless (no palmitoylation site) or [S239A]Wingless (no site for the addition of palmitoleic acid), the authors show that the C93A mutant is not detectable at the cell surface, whereas the S239A mutant is present there; however, unlike wild-type Wingless, neither mutant protein spreads to nearby non-expressing cells. The authors use immunogold EM to demonstrate that the C93A mutant accumulates in the ER at a ten times higher concentration than wild-type Wingless, and is absent from multivesicular bodies (where the wild-type protein is present). Thus, the palmitoylation of Wingless is necessary for its secretion, and palmitate and palmitoleic acid are both required for its signalling activity.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JCS:

In vivo role of lipid adducts on Wingless

Xavier Franch-Marro, Franz Wendler, Janice Griffith, Madelon M. Maurice, and Jean-Paul Vincent
JCS 2008 121: 1587-1592. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?