Abstract
The D. melanogaster mei-41 gene is required for DNA repair, mitotic chromosome stability, and normal levels of meiotic recombination in oocytes. Here we show that the predicted mei-41 protein is similar in sequence to the ATM (ataxia telangiectasia) protein from humans and to the yeast rad3 and Mec1p proteins. There is also extensive functional overlap between mei-41 and ATM. Like ATM-deficient cells, mei-41 cells are exquisitely sensitive to ionizing radiation and display high levels of mitotic chromosome instability. We also demonstrate that mei-41 cells, like ATM-deficient cells, fail to show an irradiation-induced delay in the entry into mitosis that is characteristic of normal cells. Thus, the mei-41 gene of Drosophila may be considered to be a functional homolog of the human ATM gene.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Ataxia Telangiectasia / genetics*
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Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
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Cell Cycle / genetics
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Cell Cycle / radiation effects
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Cell Cycle Proteins
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Cloning, Molecular
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DNA Damage / physiology
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DNA Damage / radiation effects
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Drosophila melanogaster / genetics*
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Genes, Insect / genetics
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Genes, Insect / physiology
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Humans
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Neurons / radiation effects
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Phenotype
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Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / genetics
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Phosphotransferases / genetics
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Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases*
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Proteins / genetics
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Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
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Tumor Suppressor Proteins
Substances
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Cell Cycle Proteins
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Proteins
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Tumor Suppressor Proteins
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Phosphotransferases
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Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor)
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ATM protein, human
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Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
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Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases