Han, J.H., Lee, S.H., Tan, Y.Q., LeMosy, E.K., Hashimoto, C. (2000). Gastrulation defective is a serine protease involved in activating the receptor Toll to polarize the Drosophila embryo. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97(16): 9093--9097.
FlyBase ID
FBrf0129846
Publication Type
Research paper
Abstract
The dorsoventral axis of the Drosophila embryo is induced by a ventrally restricted ligand for the receptor Toll. The Toll ligand is generated by a proteolytic processing reaction, which occurs at the end of a proteolytic cascade and requires the gastrulation defective (gd), nudel, pipe, and windbeutel genes. Here we demonstrate that the GD protein is a serine protease and that the three other genes act to restrict GD activity to the ventral side of the embryo. Our data support a model in which the GD protease catalyzes the ventral activation of the proteolytic cascade that produces the Toll ligand.
