THE DROSOPHILA ROUGHENED MUTATION - ACTIVATION OF A RAP HOMOLOG DISRUPTS EYE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERFERES WITH CELL DETERMINATION

Roughened is a dominant mutation of D. melanogaster that disrupts eye development. The majority of the ommatidia in the adult eye lack a single photoreceptor cell, which is most commonly the R7 cell. The Roughened mutation disrupts the early stages of photoreceptor cell determination. Roughened is a dominant gain-of-function mutation that results from a single amino acid change (Phe157 to Leu) in the Drosophila Rap1 protein. Loss of function Rap1 mutations are lethal. Drosophila Rap1 protein is 88% identical to human rap1A/K-rev1 protein, a putative antagonist of ras action.