...Marta Carrasco-Rando; Joaquim Culi; Sonsoles Campuzano; Mar Ruiz-Gómez ABSTRACT Vertebrate podocytes and Drosophila nephrocytes display slit diaphragms, specialised cell junctions that are essential for the execution of the basic excretory function of ultrafiltration. To elucidate the mechanisms...

... tubule. Here, we show that Drosophila CUBAM is a tripartite complex composed of Amnionless and two cubilin paralogues, Cubilin and Cubilin2, and that it is required for nephrocyte slit diaphragm (SD) dynamics. Loss of CUBAM-mediated endocytosis induces dramatic morphological changes in nephrocytes...

...Antonio S. Tutor; Silvia Prieto-Sánchez; Mar Ruiz-Gómez Drosophila nephrocytes are functionally homologous to vertebrate kidney podocytes. Both share the presence of slit diaphragms that function as molecular filters during the process of blood and haemolymph ultrafiltration. The protein components...

... Mesangial cells Notch Slit diaphragm Xenopus The kidney is required for water homeostasis and waste excretion ( Saxén, 1987 ; Vize et al., 2003 ). In vertebrates, three successively more complex kidney structures – the pronephros, mesonephros and metanephros – have evolved...

...Shufei Zhuang; Huanjie Shao; Fengli Guo; Rhonda Trimble; Elspeth Pearce; Susan M. Abmayr The Immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) proteins Neph1 and Nephrin are co-expressed within podocytes in the kidney glomerulus, where they localize to the slit diaphragm (SD) and contribute to filtration between...