Expression of crumbs confers apical character on plasma membrane domains of ectodermal epithelia of Drosophila.

The crumbs protein of Drosophila is an integral membrane protein, with 30 EGF-like and 4 laminin A G domain-like repeats in its extracellular segment, which is expressed on the apical plasma membrane of all ectodermally derived epithelia. Here, we present evidence to show that the insertion of crumbs into the plasma membrane is necessary and sufficient to confer apical character on a membrane domain. Overexpression of crumbs results in an enormous expansion of the apical plasma membrane and the concomitant reduction of the basolateral domain. This is followed by the redistribution of beta Heavy-spectrin, a component of the membrane cytoskeleton, and by the ectopic deposition of cuticle and other apical components into these areas. Strikingly, overexpression of the membrane-bound cytoplasmic portion of crumbs alone is sufficient to produce this dominant phenotype. Our results suggest that crumbs plays a key role in specifying the apical plasma membrane domain of ectodermal epithelial cells of Drosophila.