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Drosophila Stardust interacts with Crumbs to control polarity of epithelia but not neuroblasts

Nature volume 414, pages 634–638 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Establishing cellular polarity is critical for tissue organization and function. Initially discovered in the landmark genetic screen for Drosophila developmental mutants1,2,3,4, bazooka, crumbs, shotgun and stardust mutants exhibit severe disruption in apicobasal polarity in embryonic epithelia, resulting in multilayered epithelia, tissue disintegration, and defects in cuticle formation5. Here we report that stardust encodes single PDZ domain MAGUK (membrane-associated guanylate kinase) proteins that are expressed in all primary embryonic epithelia from the onset of gastrulation. Stardust colocalizes with Crumbs6 at the apicolateral boundary, although their expression patterns in sensory organs differ. Stardust binds to the carboxy terminus of Crumbs in vitro, and Stardust and Crumbs are mutually dependent in their stability, localization and function in controlling the apicobasal polarity of epithelial cells. However, for the subset of ectodermal cells that delaminate and form neuroblasts, their polarity requires the function of Bazooka7,8, but not of Stardust or Crumbs.

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Figure 1: Cloning of sdt.
Figure 2: Developmental expression pattern of Sdt.
Figure 3: Characterization of polarity phenotype in sdt mutants.
Figure 4: Sdt interacts with Crb.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to D. Bilder, M. Bhat, T. Uemura, P. J. Bryant, U. Tepass, E. Knust, E. Wieschaus, Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank and Bloomington Stock Center for providing fly stocks, antibodies and constructs. We thank S. Barbel, L. Ackerman and S. Younger-Shepherd for technical assistance and M. Rothenberg, D. Cox, S. Abdelilah and U. Tepass for critical comments on the manuscript. B.S. is supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Y.H. is a Research Associate and N.P., L.Y.J. and Y.N.J are Investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, 94143-0725, California, USA

    Yang Hong, Lily Yeh Jan & Yuh Nung Jan

  2. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Beth Stronach & Norbert Perrimon

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Correspondence to Yuh Nung Jan.

Supplementary information

Figure 1

(GIF 105.83 KB)

Protein sequence alignment of the predicted C. elegans protein C10B7.4, SdtA, and mouse PALS-1. Only the alignment of C-terminal half of the proteins is shown. Asterisk indicates where SdtXP96 protein is truncated.

Antibody Dilution Factors for "Methods" section: Dilution factors for primary antibodies were as follows: rabbit anti-Sdt C-terminus 1:100, mouse MAb 22C10 1:200, mouse anti-Crb 1:100 (Cq4, Hybridoma Bank), mouse anti-Arm 1:50 (Hybridoma Bank), mouse anti-Cor 1:500 (Hybridoma Bank), rat anti-DE-Cad 1:20 (from T. Uemura), guinea pig anti-Dlg 1:1000 (from P.J. Bryant), rabbit anti-Baz 1:1000 (ref. 7), rabbit anti-DPar-6 1:500 (ref. 12), rabbit anti-aPKC 1:1000(ref. 21), rabbit anti-Dlt 1:1000 (ref. 13), rabbit anti-Mir 1:1500 (ref. 22), rabbit anti-Scrib 1:1500 (ref. 14), rabbit anti-b-gal 1:3000 (ICN).

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Hong, Y., Stronach, B., Perrimon, N. et al. Drosophila Stardust interacts with Crumbs to control polarity of epithelia but not neuroblasts. Nature 414, 634–638 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/414634a

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