THE FUNCTION OF TYPE-IV COLLAGEN DURING DROSOPHILA MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT

Type IV collagen forms a network that provides the major structural su pport for basement membranes. Basement membranes are specialized forms of extracellular matrix with important functions in development. One collagen gene (Dcg1) was characterized in Drosophila melanogaster and shown to encode a collagen chain related to vertebrate basement membra ne type IV collagen chains. Therefore, to access the functional import ance of type IV collagen during Drosophila myogenesis, we adopted two different approaches to decrease the Dcg1 gene expression in Drosophil a embryos. We describe, here, that the decrease in Dcg1 gene expressio n causes, in particular, defective muscle attachments. These mutant ph enotypes suggest that type IV collagen acts to stabilize cell-matrix i nteractions.