Drosophila syndecan: conservation of a cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan

In mammals, cell-surface heparan sulfate is required for the action of basic fibroblast growth factor, fibronectin, antithrombin III, as well as other effectors. The syndecans, a gene family of four transmembrane proteoglycans that participates in these interactions, are the major source of this heparan sulfate. Based on the conserved transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of the mammalian syndecans, a single syndecan-like gene was detected and localized in the Drosophila genome. As in mammals, Drosophila syndecan is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan expressed at the cell surface that can be shed from cultured cells. The single Drosophila syndecan is expressed in embryonic tissues that correspond with those tissues in mammals that express distinct members of the syndecan family predominantly. Conservation of this class of molecules suggests that Drosophila, like mammals, uses cell-surface heparan sulfate as a receptor or coreceptor for extracellular effector molecules.