Genetic interactions with Rap1 and Ras1 reveal a second function for the Fat facets deubiquitinating enzyme in Drosophila eye development
- *Department of Zoology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712; and †Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129
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Communicated by Gerald M. Rubin, University of California, Berkeley, CA (received for review July 17, 1997)
Abstract
The Drosophila fat facets gene encodes a deubiquitinating enzyme that regulates a cell communication pathway essential very early in eye development, prior to facet assembly, to limit the number of photoreceptor cells in each facet of the compound eye to eight. The Fat facets protein facilitates the production of a signal in cells outside the developing facets that inhibits neural development of particular facet precursor cells. Novel gain-of-function mutations in the Drosophila Rap1 and Ras1 genes are described herein that interact genetically with fat facets mutations. Analysis of these genetic interactions reveals that Fat facets has an additional function later in eye development involving Rap1 and Ras1 proteins. Moreover, the results suggest that undifferentiated cells outside the facet continue to influence facet assembly later in eye development.
Footnotes
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↵ ‡ To whom reprint requests should be addressed at: Department of Zoology and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Patterson Building, 24th Street and Speedway, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712.jaf{at}mail.utexas.edu.
- ABBREVIATION:
- Ub,
- ubiquitin
- Copyright © 1997, The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
