The Nonreceptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Corkscrew Functions in Multiple Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Pathways inDrosophila

• Published in: Developmental biology Vol. 180; no. 1; pp. 63 - 81
• Main Authors: Perkins, Lizabeth A., Johnson, Michelle R., Melnick, Michael B., Perrimon, Norbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.11.1996
• ISSN: 0012-1606; 1095-564X
• DOI: 10.1006/dbio.1996.0285

Corkscrew(csw) encodes a nonreceptor protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) that has been implicated in signaling from the Torso receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK).cswmutations, unliketormutations, are associated with zygotic lethality, indicating that Csw plays additional roles during development. We have conducted a detailed phenotypic analysis ofcswmutations to identify these additional functions of Csw. Our results indicate that Csw operates positively downstream of otherDrosophilaRTKs such as theDrosophilaepidermal growth factor receptor (DER), the fibroblast growth factor receptor (Breathless), and likely other RTKs. This model is substantiated by specific dosage interactions betweencswandDER.It is proposed that Csw is part of the evolutionarily conserved “signaling cassette” that operates downstream of all RTKs. In support of this hypothesis, we demonstrate that SHP-2, a vertebrate PTPase similar to Csw and previously implicated in RTK signaling, encodes the functional vertebrate homologue of Csw.