High impact information on wun

• The Drosophila protein Wunen repels migrating germ cells [1].
• Wunen shows strong similarity to the enzyme type 2 phosphatidic acid phophatase (PAP2)4, suggesting that it is involved in lipid metabolism [1].
• Wunen can transform a permissive cellular environment into a repulsive one, and is expressed in the gut in a pattern that guides germ cells towards the mesoderm [1].
• For example, migrating germ cells compete with the surrounding somatic tissue for the substrate of the lipid phosphate phosphatases encoded by the genes Wunen and Wunen2 [2].
• In somatic cells, Wun and Wun2 may provide a repulsive environment for pole cell migration by depleting this extracellular substrate [3].

Biological context of wun

• Wun and Wun2 also affect the viability of pole cells, because overexpression of either one in somatic cells causes pole cell death [3].
• RESULTS: We present evidence that Wunen dimerises, that these associations require the last thirty-five C-terminal amino-acids and depend upon the presence of an intact catalytic site [4].
• Wunen, a Drosophila LPP homologue, has been shown to play a pivotal role in primordial germ cell (PGC) migration and survival during embryogenesis [4].

Anatomical context of wun

• Our results suggest that expression of wun/wun-2 repellents along the migratory paths provides faithful control over the sorting of PGCs into two gonads and eliminates PGCs left in the middle of the embryo [5].
• Control of lateral migration and germ cell elimination by the Drosophila melanogaster lipid phosphate phosphatases Wunen and Wunen 2 [5].

Associations of wun with chemical compounds

• A signal dependent on 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutanyl Coenzyme A reductase attracts migrating primordial germ cells to the somatic gonad, whereas the phosphohydrolase, phosphatidic acid phosphatase type 2, repels germ cells [6].
• Here we describe the cloning of a mouse gene that encodes a protein homologous to wunen and to the Type 2 phosphatidic acid phosphatases [7].

Other interactions of wun

• In contrast, Scrib1 synthesis in pole cells required contact with gonadal mesodermal cells as revealed by the absence of Scrib1 in wunen or tinman-zinc finger homeodomain-1 pseudo-gonads made only of aggregated pole cells [8].

References