High impact information on lat

• Basal synaptic transmission amplitude at the lat mutant NMJ is elevated 3- to 4-fold, and Ca2+ dependence of transmission is significantly reduced [1].
• The six-subunit origin recognition complex (ORC) is a DNA replication initiator protein in eukaryotes that defines the localization of the origins of replication [2].
• We report here that the smallest Drosophila ORC subunit, Orc6, is a DNA binding protein that is necessary for the DNA binding and DNA replication functions of ORC [2].
• Further complementation analyses between latheoP1 and lethal alleles, produced by excision of the latheoP1 insert or by EMS or gamma-rays, in the 49F region mapped the latheo mutation to one vital complementation group [3].
• latheo, a new gene involved in associative learning and memory in Drosophila melanogaster, identified from P element mutagenesis [3].

Biological context of lat

• Next, we discuss the role of two proteins that forward genetic screens in Drosophila have revealed to play crucial-and completely unexpected-roles in NMJ development and plasticity: the origin of replication complex protein Latheo, and the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase [4].
• We propose that the abnormal subcellular distribution and segregation of ORC proteins in AD might compromise their physiological function in gene silencing and plasticity [5].
• ORC subunits might, thus, provide a direct molecular link between synaptic plasticity, DNA replication and cell death [5].
• The ORC is a critical "guard" of DNA replication and point of convergence of numerous functionally redundant signaling pathways involved in cell cycle progression and transcriptional silencing of apoptotic programmes [5].
• ORC subunits in the mammalian brain and their homologes in Drosophila, however, have further been implicated in the regulation of structural neuronal plasticity and cognitive function [5].

References