High impact information on ewg

• ELAV binds to erect wing (ewg) RNA 3' of a polyadenylation site in the terminal intron 6 [1].
• Finally, we show that in a mutant combination, null for Erect wing function in the mesoderm, the splitting of the larval muscles is aborted [2].
• We show that the Erect wing protein, an early marker of muscle differentiation, is not only expressed in myoblasts just before and after fusion, but also in remnant larval nuclei during muscle differentiation [2].
• Finally, using transgenes we demonstrate in fly neurons that ELAV-mediated regulation of ewg intron 6 splicing requires several AU(4-6) motifs and that introduction of spacer sequence between conserved AU(4-6) motifs has a minimal effect on splicing [3].
• In vitro binding studies of ELAV show that ELAV multimerizes on the ewg binding site and forms a defined and saturable complex [3].

Biological context of ewg

• Further, analysis of EWG expression elicited from intron-containing genomic transgenes and cDNA minitransgenes in ELAV-deficient eye discs shows that this regulation is dependent on the presence of ewg introns [4].
• In addition, the use of segmentally labeled RNA substrates in UV cross-linking assays suggest that ELAV does not inhibit or redirect binding of cleavage factor dCstF64 at the regulated polyadenylation site on ewg RNA [1].
• Immunoblot analysis using polyclonal anti-EWG antisera generated against a bacterial fusion protein reveals a single, 116-kDa protein present throughout development, beginning at approximately stage 12 of embryogenesis, which is enriched in adult heads and absent from embryos carrying certain ewg alleles [5].
• The early events of muscle development are normal in ewg mutants [6].
• The erect wing locus of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster encodes a protein, EWG, that shares extensive homology with the P3A2 DNA binding protein of sea urchin and a recently identified mammalian transcription factor [6].

Anatomical context of ewg

• Genetic studies of the Drosophila erect wing (ewg) gene have revealed that ewg has an essential function in the embryonic nervous system and is required for the specification of certain muscle cells [7].
• In Drosophila, the erect wing (ewg) protein is required for proper development of the central nervous system and the indirect flight muscles [8].

Regulatory relationships of ewg

• The data presented in this paper are consistent with a mechanism in which ELAV increases the splicing efficiency of ewg transcripts in alternatively spliced regions rather than with a mechanism in which stability of specific splice forms is enhanced by ELAV [4].

Other interactions of ewg

• The different thoracic muscles of Drosophila are affected specifically in the mutants: stripe (sr), erect wing (ewg), vertical wings (vtw), and nonjumper (nj) [9].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of ewg

• Further, sizing of the ELAV-RNA complex and a series of titration experiments indicate that ELAV forms a dodecameric complex on 135 nucleotides in the last ewg intron [3].
• Tissue distribution of putative ewg transcription was examined by in situ hybridization to 6- to 14-h-old embryonic sections [10].

References