| Uniprot: | Q9VCH4 |
| Organism: | Drosophila melanogaster |
| Symbol: | mbc |
Myoblast city (Mbc[1]) is the Drosophila melanogaster ortholog of the mammalian protein Dock180.[2] Mutant mbc embryos exhibit defects in dorsal closure, cytoskeletal organization, myogenesis, and neural development.[2] [3]
The Myoblast city locus was identified by deletion mapping, using this technique researchers were able to isolate the location of the gene on the right arm of the third chromosome.[4] During the process four recessive alleles of Mbc were found; mbcc1, mbcc2, mbcc3, mbcs4, all of which are lethal and the D. melanogaster embryos fail to hatch.
During the first 9-10 hours of development, embryos with the mutant Mbc alleles show the same myosin expression as wild-type embryos. However, at about the 11th hour, most myoblasts fail to fuse. As development progresses, some myoblasts show signs of fusion, such as elongation and having multiple nuclei; but some remain round. After 13-14 hours of development, most cells in mutant embryos that failed to fuse lose myosin expression.