Cloning and expression throughout mouse development of mfat, a homologue of the Drosophila tumour suppressor gene fat

Cox, Barnaby, Hadjantonakis, Anna-Katerina, Collins, Jane E. and Magee, Anthony I. (2000) Cloning and expression throughout mouse development of mfat, a homologue of the Drosophila tumour suppressor gene fat. Developmental Dynamics, 217 (3), 233-240. (doi:10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0177).

Abstract

We present the entire sequence of the mouse Fat orthologue (mFat1), a protein of 4,588 amino acids with 34 cadherin repeats, 27 potential N-glycosylation sites, five EGF repeats and a laminin A G-motif in its extracellular domain. A single transmembrane region is followed by a cytoplasmic domain containing putative catenin-binding sequences. mFat1 shows high homology to human FAT and lesser homology to Drosophila Fat. The sequence of this giant cadherin suggests that it is unlikely to have a homophilic adhesive function, but may mediate heterophilic adhesion or play a signalling role. Expression analysis shows that the mfat1 gene is expressed early in pre-implantation mouse development, at the compact eight cell stage. Whole-mount and section in situ analyses show that transcripts are widely expressed throughout post-implantation development, most notably in the limb buds, branchial arches, forming somites, and in particular in the proliferating ventricular zones in the brain, being down-regulated as cells cease dividing. RT-PCR detects widespread expression in the adult suggesting a role in proliferation and differentiation of many tissues and cell types.

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