ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SMALLMINDED, A DROSOPHILA GENE ENCODING A NEW MEMBER OF THE CDC48P VCP SUBFAMILY OF AAA PROTEINS/

Smallminded (smid) encodes a new member of the cdc48p/VCP subfamily of AAA proteins in Drosophila. The gene was isolated by plasmid rescue f rom a GAL4 enhancer trap line which shows reporter gene expression in neuroblasts, imaginal disks and a subset of sensory neurons, Larvae ho mozygous for the insert arrest development as second instar larvae and die without pupating. The most obvious defect in these larvae is a si gnificantly reduced CNS, hence the naming of the gene as smallminded. The deduced amino acid sequence of smid contains a tandem duplication of the AAA nucleotide binding domain characteristic of the cdc48p/VCP subfamily. Overall, sri?id shares 33% identical residues with its clos est relative, yeast L0919-chrXII and 26-29% with other members of the cdc48p/VCP subfamily. The most highly conserved regions of the predict ed protein structure are found in and around the nucleotide binding do mains. The gene is expressed at all developmental stages, (C) 1998 Els evier Science B.V.