Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Wolfstetter, Georg
• Dahlitz, Ina
• Pfeifer, Kathrin
• Töpfer, Uwe
• Alt, Joscha Arne
• Pfeifer, Daniel Christoph
• Lakes-Harlan, Reinhard
• Baumgartner, Stefan
• Palmer, Ruth H
• Holz, Anne

Titel

Characterization of Drosophila Nidogen / entactin reveals roles in basement membrane stability, barrier function and nervous system patterning

Ist Teil von

• Development (Cambridge), 2019-01, Vol.146 (2)

Ort / Verlag

England

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Basement membranes (BMs) are specialized layers of extracellular matrix (ECM) mainly composed of Laminin, type IV Collagen, Perlecan and Nidogen/entactin (NDG). Recent studies challenged the initially proposed role of NDG as a major ECM linker molecule by revealing dispensability for viability and BM formation. Here, we report the characterization of the single gene in Embryonic expression was primarily observed in mesodermal tissues and the chordotonal organs, whereas NDG protein localized to all BMs. Although loss of Laminin strongly affected BM localization of NDG, -null mutants exhibited no overt changes in the distribution of BM components. Although mutants were viable, loss of NDG led to ultrastructural BM defects that compromised barrier function and stability Moreover, loss of NDG impaired larval crawling behavior and reduced responses to vibrational stimuli. Further morphological analysis revealed accompanying defects in the larval peripheral nervous system, especially in the chordotonal organs and the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Taken together, our analysis suggests that NDG is not essential for BM assembly but mediates BM stability and ECM-dependent neural plasticity during development.