Genetic Characterization of docked in Drosophila melanogaster

Here I report a previously uncharacterized Drosophila gene CG5484 encodes Docked; yeast and mammalian homologs of docked encode a protein component that is involved in an early phase of secretory pathway. docked mutants interact with alleles of genes encoding components of COPII vesicle suggesting its involvement in vesicle trafficking between Endoplasmic Reticulum and Golgi. docked alleles interact with Syntaxin and dNSF2 alleles indicating that it has roles in vesicle fusion. docked alleles also interact with alleles of Notch components indicating that Docked is involved in transport of transmembrane receptors that are essential during early stages of development. Docked is also involved in export of the extracellular matrix components, Dumpy and Miniature, which have roles during later stages of wing development. The distribution of Dumpy to cell surface is affected by mutations in vesicle trafficking components, but an allele of docked phenocopying dumpy phenotype indicates that Docked may have direct roles in transport of Dumpy. Preliminary results from a deficiency screen to identify modifiers of Dumpy indicate that Dumpy might also participate in wing development through Egfr and Pvr signaling pathways.