Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 13 February 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5916, pp. 943 - 946
DOI: 10.1126/science.1166239
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

An ABC Transporter Controls Export of a Drosophila Germ Cell Attractant

Sara Ricardo and Ruth Lehmann*

Directed cell migration, which is critical for embryonic development, leukocyte trafficking, and cell metastasis, depends on chemoattraction. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase regulates the production of an attractant for Drosophila germ cells that may itself be geranylated. Chemoattractants are commonly secreted through a classical, signal peptide–dependent pathway, but a geranyl-modified attractant would require an alternative pathway. In budding yeast, pheromones produced by a-cells are farnesylated and secreted in a signal peptide–independent manner, requiring the adenosine triphosphate–binding cassette (ABC) transporter Ste6p. Here we show that Drosophila germ cell migration uses a similar pathway, demonstrating that invertebrate germ cells, like yeast cells, are attracted to lipid-modified peptides. Components of this unconventional export pathway are highly conserved, suggesting that this pathway may control the production of similarly modified chemoattractants in organisms ranging from yeast to humans.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York University, 540 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lehmann{at}saturn.med.nyu.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Synchronous and Stochastic Patterns of Gene Activation in the Drosophila Embryo.
A. N. Boettiger and M. Levine (2009)
Science 325, 471-473
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Highlights From The Literature.
(2009)
Physiology 24, 144-146
   Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)