Mutations in the midway Gene Disrupt a Drosophila Acyl Coenzyme A: Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase

Mutations in the midway Gene Disrupt a Drosophila Acyl Coenzyme A: Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase

Michael Buszczak^a, Xiaohui Lu^b, William A. Segraves^a, Ta Yuan Chang^b, and Lynn Cooley^c
^a Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8103,
^b Department of Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
^c Departments of Genetics and Cell Biology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8005

Corresponding author: Lynn Cooley, Yale University Medical School, 333 Cedar St., P.O. Box 208005, New Haven, CT 06520-8005., lynn.cooley{at}yale.edu (E-mail)

Communicating editor: T. SCHÜPBACH

During Drosophila oogenesis, defective or unwanted egg chambersare eliminated during mid-oogenesis by programmed cell death.In addition, final cytoplasm transport from nurse cells to theoocyte depends upon apoptosis of the nurse cells. To study theregulation of germline apoptosis, we analyzed the midway mutant,in which egg chambers undergo premature nurse cell death anddegeneration. The midway gene encodes a protein similar to mammalianacyl coenzyme A: diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), whichconverts diacylglycerol (DAG) into triacylglycerol (TAG). midwaymutant egg chambers contain severely reduced levels of neutrallipids in the germline. Expression of midway in insect cellsresults in high levels of DGAT activity in vitro. These resultsshow that midway encodes a functional DGAT and that changesin acylglycerol lipid metabolism disrupt normal egg chamberdevelopment in Drosophila.

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