Ce. Oh et al., BENDLESS, A DROSOPHILA GENE AFFECTING NEURONAL CONNECTIVITY, ENCODES A UBIQUITIN-CONJUGATING ENZYME HOMOLOG, The Journal of neuroscience, 14(5), 1994, pp. 3166-3179
The Drosophila bendless (ben) gene was originally isolated as a mutati
on affecting the escape jump response. This behavioral defect was ascr
ibed to a single lesion affecting the connectivity between the giant f
iber and the tergotrochanter motor neuron. A closer examination of the
ben phenotype suggests that ben activity is broader and affects a var
iety of other neurons including photoreceptor cells and their axons. M
osaic analysis indicates that the focus of ben activity is presynaptic
. We have cloned the ben gene through a chromosomal walk and show that
it is homologous to a class of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. The maj
or role of ubiquitination in the protein degradative pathway suggests
that ben regulates neural developmental processes such as growth cone
guidance by targeting specific proteins for degradation.