A Systematic Phenotypic Screen of F-box Genes Through a Tissue-specific RNAi-based Approach in Drosophila

• Published in: Journal of genetics and genomics Vol. 39; no. 8; pp. 397 - 413
• Main Authors: Dui, Wen, Lu, Wei, Ma, Jun, Jiao, Renjie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Elsevier Ltd 20.08.2012
• Subjects: Animals; Cell proliferation; Cell survival; Drosophila; Drosophila - genetics; Drosophila - growth & development; Drosophila - metabolism; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - metabolism; Eye; Eye - growth & development; Eye - metabolism; F-box genes; F-box protein; F-Box Proteins - genetics; F-Box Proteins - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Organ Specificity; Phenotype; Phenotypic screen; RNA Interference; RNA-mediated interference; RNAi; RNAi-based; Signal transduction; Tissue-specific; Ubiquitin-protein ligase; ubiquitination; Wings; Wings, Animal - growth & development; Wings, Animal - metabolism; 基因功能; 基础; 屏幕; 果蝇; 系统; 组织特异性; 表型; F-box genes; Phenotypic screen; RNAi-based; Drosophila; Tissue-specific
• ISSN: 1673-8527
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2012.05.009

F-box proteins are components of the SCF （SkpA-Cullin 1-F-box） E3 ligase complexes, acting as the specificity-determinants in targeting substrate proteins for ubiquitination and degradation. In humans, at least 22 out of 75 F-box proteins have experimentally documented substrates, whereas in Drosophila 12 F-box proteins have been characterized with known substrates. To systematically investigate the genetic and molecular functions of F-box proteins in Drosophila, we performed a survey of the literature and databases. We identified 45 Drosophila genes that encode proteins containing at least one F-box domain. We collected publically available RNAi lines against these genes and used them in a tissue-specific RNAi-based phenotypic screen. Here, we present our systematic phenotypic dataset from the eye, the wing and the notum. This dataset is the first of its kind and represents a useful resource for future studies of the molecular and genetic functions of F-box genes in Drosophila. Our results show that, as expected, F-box genes in Drosophila have regulatory roles in a diverse array of processes including cell proliferation, cell growth, signal transduction, and cellular and animal survival.