The mei-41 gene of D. melanogaster is a structural and functional homolog of the human ataxia telangiectasia gene

• Published in: Cell Vol. 82; no. 5; pp. 815 - 821
• Main Authors: Hari, Kumar L, Santerre, Anne, Sekelsky, Jeff J, McKim, Kim S, Boyd, James B, Scott Hawley, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 08.09.1995
• Subjects: Animals; Ataxia Telangiectasia - genetics; Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; Cell Cycle - genetics; Cell Cycle - radiation effects; Cell Cycle Proteins; Cloning, Molecular; DNA Damage - physiology; DNA Damage - radiation effects; DNA-Binding Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Genes, Insect - genetics; Genes, Insect - physiology; Humans; Molecular Sequence Data; Neurons - radiation effects; Phenotype; Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) - genetics; Phosphotransferases - genetics; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases; Proteins - genetics; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Tumor Suppressor Proteins
• ISSN: 0092-8674; 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/0092-8674(95)90478-6

The D. melanogaster mei-41 gene is required for DNA repair, mitotic chromosome stability, and normal levels of meiotic recombination in oocytes. Here we show that the predicted mei-41 protein is similar in sequence to the ATM (ataxia telangiectasia) protein from humans and to the yeast rad3 and Mecip proteins. There is also extensive functional overlap between mei-41 and ATM. Like ATM-deficient cells, mei-41 cells are exquisitely sensitive to ionizing radiation and display high levels of mitotic chromosome instability. We also demonstrate that mei-41 cells, like ATM-deficient cells, fail to show an irradiation-induced delay in the entry into mitosis that is characteristic of normal cells. Thus, the mei-41 gene of Drosophila may be considered to be a functional homolog of the human ATM gene.