Disease relevance of Hem

• One P-element insertion, located 39 base-pairs downstream from the dhem-2 transcription start site, causes female sterility, due to the fact that developmental processes in the oocyte are disturbed [1].

High impact information on Hem

• In line with these observations, a kette phenocopy can be obtained following directed expression of mutant DCDC42 or DRAC1 in the CNS midline [2].
• In addition, kette affects the cell morphology of mesodermal and epidermal derivatives, which show an abnormal actin cytoskeleton [2].
• In addition, the kette mutant phenotype can be partially rescued by expression of an activated DRAC1 transgene [2].
• WAVE function is regulated through a protein complex containing Sra1, Kette and Abi [3].
• Sra-1 interacts with Kette and Wasp and is required for neuronal and bristle development in Drosophila [4].

Biological context of Hem

• Interestingly, a surplus of Kette can replace Blow function during myogenesis [5].

Anatomical context of Hem

• We have identified Kette as an essential component for myoblast fusion [5].
• Following knockdown of sra-1 function in motoneurons, we noted abnormal neuromuscular junctions similar to what we determined for hypomorphic kette mutations [4].
• Some Kette protein is localized at the membrane and accumulates at focal contact sites [6].
• Here we show that the Drosophila proteins SCAR, CYFIP and Kette, orthologs of WAVE/SCAR complex components, all show strong accumulation in axons of the central nervous system and indeed form a complex in vivo [7].

Other interactions of Hem

• We also show that RNAi of three proteins (kette, Abi, and Sra-1) known to copurify with and inhibit SCAR in vitro leads to SCAR degradation, revealing a novel function of this protein complex in SCAR stability [8].
• CONCLUSIONS: In Drosophila cells, SCAR is regulated by Abi, Kette, and Sra1, components of a conserved regulatory SCAR complex [9].

References