Molecular Function Study Of Prominin-like, A CD133Homologous Gene In Drosophila Melanogaster

CD133was first found when scientists were searching for novel markers of mouse neural and human hematopoietic stem cells. As a cholesterol-binding pentaspan membrane glycoprotein, it has become a popular biomaker for the identification and isolation of stem cells from different types of tissue and organ, which makes CD133one of the most valuable cell surface markers with clinical value.CD133is specifically localized on plasma membrane protrusions and also released in association with membrane particles into different body fluids. CD133has a broad tissue distribution and is expressed in diversified cell types, such as epithelial cells, stem cells, and photoreceptors. Mutations of CD133gene in human and mouse are associated with various forms of retinal degeneration. Nonetheless, physiological function of CD133remains elusive, lacking a detailed picture on its physiological role in various cell types. It is unclear whether CD133plays any roles in any signal transduction pathways in addition to the cell surface marker function.Drosophila melanogaster contains two genes related to mammalian CD133, named Prominin and Prominin-like. Prominin is essential for separation of rhabdomeres in Drosophila ommatidia, without it, separation does not occur. Due to lack of mutations in prominin-like, data on its phenotypic features and physiological functions are still missing. In this study I have generated successfully the deletion mutant of prominin-like in Drosophila, and identified some novel functions of the gene, which surely will provide new insight for the study of CD133.