Amino acid replacement: L129F.
UAS regulatory sequences drive expression of mutated full-length Hsap\RAB7A coding sequences tagged at the N-terminal with GFP.
Analysis of axonal transport in vesicles expressing Hsap\RAB7AL129F.Scer\UAS.N.T:Avic\GFP in sensory neurons of Drosophila larvae and in neurites of mammalian neuroblastoma cells demonstrates that mutant vesicles pause less than their wild-type counterparts, This alteration in vesicle transport might contribute to the pathomechanism of CMT2B.
Larvae expressing the CMT2B-associated form of Hsap\RAB7A (Hsap\RAB7AL129F.Scer\UAS.N.T:Avic\GFP) under the control of Scer\GAL4D42 cover significantly less distance in a 2-minute time frame as compared to controls. The pattern of movement is also different in these larvae, with mutant larvae changing direction more frequently than controls.
Approximately 17.4% of larvae expressing Hsap\RAB7AL129F.Scer\UAS.N.T:Avic\GFP in sensory neurons under the control of Scer\GAL412.1 are found on the warm side of a temperature-graded plate, indicating that the mutation has a negative effect on the ability of the larvae to sense non-optimal (but not noxious) temperatures.
Larvae expressing Hsap\RAB7AL129F.Scer\UAS.N.T:Avic\GFP under the control of Scer\GAL412.1 react significantly slower to a painful stimulus as compared to controls.
Larvae expressing Hsap\RAB7AL129F.Scer\UAS.N.T:Avic\GFP under the control of Scer\GAL412.1 do not exhibit any motor defects.
Expression of Hsap\RAB7AL129F.Scer\UAS.N.T:Avic\GFP under the control of Scer\GAL4221 (which drives expression in three sensory neurons per hemisegment) reveals that expression does not affect neuronal morphology or the size and complexity of the dendritic tree.