A narrow gene encoding an extracellular matrix is involved in the formation of the footpad hairs in Drosophila melanogaster

Kohei Tanaka; Ryunosuke Minami; Ken-Ichi Kimura

doi:10.17912/micropub.biology.000804

A narrow gene encoding an extracellular matrix is involved in the formation of the footpad hairs in Drosophila melanogaster

MicroPubl Biol. 2023 Apr 7:2023:10.17912/micropub.biology.000804. doi: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000804. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Kohei Tanaka¹, Ryunosuke Minami^{1

2}, Ken-Ichi Kimura¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Biology, Sapporo Campus, Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo 002-8502 Japan.
² Present address: Department of Advanced Medical Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa 078-8510 Japan.

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster is an insect that can walk on smooth surfaces, and its tarsal segments bear a pair of footpads that are equipped with spatulate-shaped hairs (setae). We found that narrow ^B ( nw ^B ) mutants, an allele of the nw gene, were unable to climb smooth surfaces, due to the destruction of the footpad hair tips. The mutant hair tips were damaged during molting from the pupal cuticle at eclosion. Thus, the nw gene encoding a secretory protein that serves as an extracellular matrix is implicated in the formation of the footpad hairs.

Grants and funding

a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan to K-I. K (No. 24120004)