PMID- 8365569
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19931006
LR  - 20220321
IS  - 0012-1606 (Print)
IS  - 0012-1606 (Linking)
VI  - 159
IP  - 1
DP  - 1993 Sep
TI  - Crumbs and stardust act in a genetic pathway that controls the organization of 
      epithelia in Drosophila melanogaster.
PG  - 311-26
AB  - We provide evidence that the genes crumbs (crb) and stardust (sdt) encode 
      critical components of a pathway that acts at the apical pole of epithelial cells 
      to control the cytoarchitecture of ectodermally derived epithelia of the 
      Drosophila embryo. We describe the developmental defects caused by sdt mutations, 
      which are very similar to those associated with mutations in crb. In both mutants 
      the epithelial structure of ectodermal cells breaks down during early 
      organogenesis, leading to the formation of irregular clusters of cells and cell 
      death in some epithelia. Certain cells can, however, compensate for the loss of 
      crb or sdt function in a tissue-specific manner, later reassuming an epithelial 
      cell shape and forming small epithelial vesicles, suggesting that, besides crb 
      and sdt, other tissue-specific components are involved in this process. The crb 
      protein (CRB) is continuously expressed in wild-type embryos in cells of the 
      ectoderm and ectodermally derived epithelia. In sdt mutant embryos CRB is present 
      only during gastrulation, but becomes undetectable during germ band extension; 
      the protein is again visible during early organogenesis, at the time when the sdt 
      mutant phenotype becomes apparent. In sdt mutant embryos, CRB is associated with 
      the apical membrane only in well-differentiated epithelial cells, but it is 
      expressed diffusely in the cytoplasm of cells which have lost epithelial 
      morphology. Our results suggest that time- and tissue-specific control mechanisms 
      exist to establish and maintain epithelial cell structure. Mosaic experiments 
      suggest that sdt is required cell autonomously, in contrast to crb, the 
      requirement of which appears to be non-cell-autonomous. Double mutant 
      combinations of crb and sdt suggest that these genes are part of a common genetic 
      pathway (crb/sdt pathway), in which sdt acts downstream of crb and is activated 
      by the latter.
FAU - Tepass, U
AU  - Tepass U
AD  - Institut fur Entwicklungsbiologie, Universitat zu Koln, Federal Republic of 
      Germany.
FAU - Knust, E
AU  - Knust E
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - United States
TA  - Dev Biol
JT  - Developmental biology
JID - 0372762
RN  - 0 (Drosophila Proteins)
RN  - 0 (Membrane Proteins)
RN  - 0 (crb protein, Drosophila)
SB  - IM
GS  - crb
GS  - sdt
MH  - Animals
MH  - Cell Death
MH  - Cell Differentiation
MH  - *Drosophila Proteins
MH  - Drosophila melanogaster/embryology/*genetics
MH  - Ectoderm/*cytology
MH  - Epidermis/embryology
MH  - Epithelial Cells
MH  - Epithelium/*embryology
MH  - Female
MH  - Male
MH  - Membrane Proteins/*genetics
MH  - Mutation
MH  - Organ Specificity/genetics
MH  - Phenotype
EDAT- 1993/09/01 00:00
MHDA- 1993/09/01 00:01
CRDT- 1993/09/01 00:00
PHST- 1993/09/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1993/09/01 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1993/09/01 00:00 [entrez]
AID - S0012-1606(83)71243-1 [pii]
AID - 10.1006/dbio.1993.1243 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Dev Biol. 1993 Sep;159(1):311-26. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1993.1243.