Overview:

Drosophila melanogaster Tau-361 and human Tau-441 are homologs with amino acid sequence similarities and share functional properties in microtubule binding and stability (1). Tau-361 exhibits 46% identity and 66% similarity with human Tau-441. Tau-361 contains five putative microtubule binding domain (MTBD) repeats, but does not contain the N-terminal MTBD repeats found in human Tau-441 (2). Drosophila melanogaster is a widely used powerful model organism utilized to investigate in vivo toxicity of proteins linked to neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease where the accumulation of post-translationally modified Tau species leads to the formation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and subsequent neuronal death (1,2).

Genbank Number:

NM_143318.3

References:

1. Burnouf, S. et al: Deletion of endogenous Tau proteins is not detrimental in Drosophila. Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 23102.
2. Heidary, G. and Fortini, M.E.: Identification and characterization of the Drosophila tau homolog. Mech. Dev. 2001; 108: 171-178.