D-Cbl, the Drosophila homologue of the c-Cbl proto-oncogene, interacts with the Drosophila EGF receptor in vivo, despite lacking C-terminal adaptor binding sites

Abstract

The c-Cbl proto-oncogene encodes a multidomain phosphoprotein that has been demonstrated to interact with a wide range of signalling proteins. The biochemical function of c-Cbl in these complexes is, however, unclear. Recent studies with the C. elegans Cbl homologue, sli-1, have suggested that Cbl proteins may act as negative regulators of EGF receptor (EGFR) signalling. As the EGFR and other protein tyrosine kinase receptor signalling pathways are highly conserved between insects and vertebrates, we sought a Drosophila homologue of c-Cbl for a detailed genetic analysis. We report here that Drosophila melanogaster has a single gene, D-cbl, that is homologous to c-cbl. We find that D-cbl enco..