Disease relevance of l(3)mbt

• A human homolog of Drosophila lethal(3)malignant brain tumor (l(3)mbt) protein associates with condensed mitotic chromosomes [1].

High impact information on l(3)mbt

• PAK5 does share considerable sequence homology with the Drosophila MBT protein (for "mushroom body tiny"), however, which is thought to play a role in development of cells in Drosophila brain [2].
• SCM contains two approximately 100-residue malignant brain tumor (MBT) repeats at the N terminus [3].
• Homozygous mutations in the l(3)mbt gene cause brain tumors in Drosophila, identifying l(3)mbt as a tumor suppressor gene [4].
• There are significant structural similarities to the Tudor, PWWP, and chromo domains, suggesting probable evolutionary relationships and functional similarities between the MBT repeats and these domains [3].
• Mouse embryos do not wait for the MBT: chromatin and RNA polymerase remodeling in genome activation at the onset of development [5].

Biological context of l(3)mbt

• In situ hybridizations of whole mount embryos and larval tissues revealed l(3)mbt+ RNA ubiquitously present in stage 1 embryos and throughout embryonic development in most tissues [6].

Anatomical context of l(3)mbt

• The l(3)mbt gene is located cytologically in the salivary gland chromosome bands 97E8-F11, and in molecular terms in 29 kb of DNA detected via a P-element insertional deletion [7].
• In third instar larvae l(3)mbt+ RNA is detected in the adult optic anlagen and the imaginal discs, the tissues directly affected by l(3)mbt mutations, but also in tissues, showing normal development in the mutant, such as the gut, the goblet cells and the hematopoietic organs [6].

References