The Evolutionary Conserved Transmembrane BAX Inhibitor Motif (TMBIM) Containing Protein Family Members 5 and 6 Are Essential for the Development and Survival of Drosophila melanogaster

The mammalian Transmembrane BAX Inhibitor Motif (TMBIM) protein family consists of six evolutionarily conserved hydrophobic proteins that affect programmed cell death and the regulation intracellular calcium levels. bacterial ortholog BsYetJ is a pH-dependent channel. We here identified seven TMBIM members in Drosophila melanogaster describe their expression levels diverse tissues developmental stages. A phylogenetic analysis revealed CG30379 represents human TMBIM4 although these two are much less related than TMBIM5 (CG2076 CG1287/Mics1) TMBIM6 (CG7188/Bi-1) to respective orthologs. For TMBIM1-3 assignment more dubious because fly cluster together. conducted functional based on availability RNAi lines. This ubiquitous knockdown CG3798/Nmda1 CG3814/Lfg had no effect development while CG2076/dTmbim5 resulted at pupa stage CG7188/dTmbim6 embryonic stage. Ubiquitous second paralog CG1287/Mics1 ensued male sterility. Knockdown dTmbim5 6 muscle neural tissue also greatly reduced lifespan through different mechanisms. mitochondrial member ATP production pro-apoptotic profile ER dTmbim6 increased similar findings cells. Our data demonstrate essential for survival but