Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Development. 2012 Aug;139(16):2891-6. doi: 10.1242/dev.083162. Epub 2012 Jul 12.
Patj has been characterized as one of the so-called polarity proteins that play essential and conserved roles in regulating cell polarity in many different cell types. Studies of Drosophila and mammalian cells suggest that Patj is required for the apical polarity protein complex Crumbs-Stardust (Pals1 or Mpp5 in mammalian cells) to establish apical-basal polarity. However, owing to the lack of suitable genetic mutants, the exact in vivo function of Patj in regulating apical-basal polarity and development remains to be elucidated. Here, we generated molecularly defined null mutants of Drosophila Patj (dPatj). Our data show conclusively that dPatj only plays supporting and non-essential roles in regulating apical-basal polarity, although such a supporting role may become crucial in cells such as photoreceptors that undergo complex cellular morphogenesis. In addition, our results confirm that dPatj possesses an as yet unidentified function that is essential for pupal development.
Patj 被描述为所谓的极性蛋白之一，在许多不同类型的细胞中对调节细胞极性起着至关重要和保守的作用。对果蝇和哺乳动物细胞的研究表明，Patj 对于顶端极性蛋白复合物 Crumbs-Stardust（哺乳动物细胞中的 Pals1 或 Mpp5）的建立顶端-基底极性是必需的。然而，由于缺乏合适的遗传突变体，Patj 在调节顶端-基底极性和发育中的确切体内功能仍有待阐明。在这里，我们生成了果蝇 Patj（dPatj）的分子定义的缺失突变体。我们的数据确凿地表明，dPatj 仅在调节顶端-基底极性方面发挥支持和非必需的作用，尽管这种支持作用在经历复杂细胞形态发生的细胞（如感光细胞）中可能变得至关重要。此外，我们的结果证实，dPatj 具有一个尚未确定的功能，对于蛹发育是必不可少的。
