ebi regulates epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathways in Drosophila

  1. Xinzhong Dong,
  2. Leo Tsuda,
  3. Kenton H. Zavitz,
  4. Michael Lin,
  5. Songhui Li,
  6. Richard W. Carthew, and
  7. S. Lawrence Zipursky
  1. Department of Biological Chemistry, Molecular Biology Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 USA; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 USA

Abstract

ebi regulates the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway at multiple steps in Drosophila development. Mutations in ebi and Egfr lead to similar phenotypes and show genetic interactions. However, ebi does not show genetic interactions with other RTKs (e.g., torso) or with components of the canonical Ras/MAP kinase pathway.ebi encodes an evolutionarily conserved protein with a unique amino terminus, distantly related to F-box sequences, and six tandemly arranged carboxy-terminal WD40 repeats. The existence of closely related proteins in yeast, plants, and humans suggests that ebifunctions in a highly conserved biochemical pathway. Proteins with related structures regulate protein degradation. Similarly, in the developing eye, ebi promotes EGFR-dependent down-regulation of Tramtrack88, an antagonist of neuronal development.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • ↵These authors contributed equally to this work and are listed alphabetically.

  • ↵Corresponding author.

  • E-MAIL zipursky{at}hhmi.ucla.edu; FAX (310) 206-3800.

    • Received January 13, 1999.
    • Accepted February 22, 1999.
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