CONNECTIN - A HOMOPHILIC CELL-ADHESION MOLECULE EXPRESSED ON A SUBSET OF MUSCLES AND THE MOTONEURONS THAT INNERVATE THEM IN DROSOPHILA

Each abdominal hemisegment in the Drosophila embryo contains a stereotyped array of 30 muscles, each specifically innervated by one or a few motoneurons. We screened 11,000 enhancer trap lines, isolated several expressing beta-galactosidase in small subsets of muscle fibers prior to innervation, and identified two of these as inserts in connectin and Toll, members of the leucine-rich repeat gene family. Connectin contains a signal sequence, ten leucine-rich repeats, and a putative phosphatidylinositol membrane linkage; in S2 cells, connectin can mediate homophilic cell adhesion. Connectin is expressed on the surface of eight muscles, the motoneurons that innervate them, and several glial cells along the pathways leading to them. During synapse formation, the protein localizes to synaptic sites; afterward, it largely disappears. Thus, connectin is a novel cell adhesion molecule whose expression suggests a role in target recognition.