The Triple-Repeat Protein Anakonda Controls Epithelial Tricellular Junction Formation in Drosophila.

In epithelia, specialized tricellular junctions (TCJs) mediate cell contacts at three-cell vertices. TCJs are fundamental to epithelial biology and disease, but only a few TCJ components are known, and how they assemble at tricellular vertices is not understood. Here we describe a transmembrane protein, Anakonda (Aka), which localizes to TCJs and is essential for the formation of tricellular, but not bicellular, junctions in Drosophila.

A luminal glycoprotein drives dose-dependent diameter expansion of the Drosophila melanogaster hindgut tube.

An important step in epithelial organ development is size maturation of the organ lumen to attain correct dimensions. Here we show that the regulated expression of Tenectin (Tnc) is critical to shape the Drosophila melanogaster hindgut tube. Tnc is a secreted protein that fills the embryonic hindgut lumen during tube diameter expansion.

Crooked, coiled and crimpled are three Ly6-like proteins required for proper localization of septate junction components.

Cellular junction formation is an elaborate process that is dependent on the regulated synthesis, assembly and membrane targeting of constituting components. Here, we report on three Drosophila Ly6-like proteins essential for septate junction (SJ) formation. SJs provide a paracellular diffusion barrier and appear molecularly and structurally similar to vertebrate paranodal septate junctions.