Spätzle (gene) explained

Symbol:	spz
Organism:	Drosophila melanogaster
Uniprot:	P48607

Spätzle or spaetzle (German for a type of noodle) is an evolutionarily-conserved arthropod protein first identified in Drosophila melanogaster.^[1] It plays a role in embryonic development and in the insect innate immune response. The name was coined by the Nobel laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard after the Spätzle noodle-like form of homozygous mutant fly larvae.^[2]

Structure

Spätzle has a cystine knot structure supported by disulfide bridges, is glycosylated, and naturally forms a homodimer. Multiple forms are produced by alternative splicing.^[3] It is produced as a preprotein, and needs to be activated by a serine protease called . The signal sequence spz[1-25] is first cleaved, followed by the spz[26-220] fragment, leaving the final spz[221-326] (Spaetzle C-106) part as the mature protein.

Function

Homodimeric spz binds to a dimeric toll receptor in fruit flies and related organisms, thus activating the signaling cascade.^[4]

Embryonic development

A ligand of the toll pathway, spz is involved in the formation of the dorso-ventral axis in embryonic development. ^[5]

References

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Notes and References

Stein D, Nüsslein-Volhard C . Multiple extracellular activities in Drosophila egg perivitelline fluid are required for establishment of embryonic dorsal-ventral polarity . Cell . 68 . 3 . 429–40 . February 1992 . 1739964 . 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90181-b . 20617175 .
Web site: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard in Biologie Schülerlexikon Lernhelfer. www.lernhelfer.de. de. 2019-11-19.
DeLotto Y, Smith C, DeLotto R . Multiple isoforms of the Drosophila Spätzle protein are encoded by alternatively spliced maternal mRNAs in the precellular blastoderm embryo . Molecular & General Genetics . 264 . 5 . 643–52 . January 2001 . 11212919 . 10.1007/s004380000350 . 1456450 .
Morisato D, Anderson KV . The spätzle gene encodes a component of the extracellular signaling pathway establishing the dorsal-ventral pattern of the Drosophila embryo . Cell . 76 . 4 . 677–88 . February 1994 . 8124709 . 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90507-x . 26328826 .
Morisato . Donald . Spätzle regulates the shape of the Dorsal gradient in the Drosophila embryo . Development . 15 June 2001 . 128 . 12 . 2309–2319 . 10.1242/dev.128.12.2309 . 11493550 . 10 February 2023.