Fringe genes are important in the workings of the

notch signaling The Notch signaling pathway is a highly conserved cell signaling system present in most animals. Mammals possess four different notch receptors, referred to as NOTCH1, NOTCH2, NOTCH3, and NOTCH4. The notch receptor is a single-pass transmem ...

pathway. In ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the " vinegar fly" or " pomace fly". Starting with ...

'' (the fruit fly) the fringe

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

(fng) was identified as part of the notch mechanism by Dr. Kenneth Irvine at the Waksman Institute at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

. Later based on similarity, the ''manic fringe'' (

MFNG Beta-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase manic fringe is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''MFNG'' gene, a member of the fringe gene family which also includes the ''radical fringe'' (RFNG) and ''lunatic fringe'' (LFNG Beta-1,3-N-acet ...

), the ''radical fringe'' ( RFNG) and ''lunatic fringe'' (

LFNG Beta-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase lunatic fringe, (Lunatic Fringe), is a protein encoded in humans by the ''LFNG'' gene. This gene encodes a member of the glycosyltransferase superfamily. The encoded protein is a single-pass type II Golgi m ...

) genes were identified in mammals. Fringe genes encode O-fucose specific β-1,3-N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases ( GlcNAcT)

glycosyltransferases Glycosyltransferases (GTFs, Gtfs) are enzymes (EC 2.4) that establish natural glycosidic linkages. They catalyze the transfer of saccharide moieties from an activated nucleotide sugar (also known as the " glycosyl donor") to a nucleophilic glyco ...

. The gene products of radical fringe stimulate the

Apical Ectodermal Ridge The apical ectodermal ridge (AER) is a structure that forms from the ectodermal cells at the distal end of each limb bud and acts as a major signaling center to ensure proper development of a limb. After the limb bud induces AER formation, the A ...

in limb-bud formation. The mouse and human Fringe family members map to three different

chromosomes A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

: *Mfng maps to mouse Chr 15 and to human Chr 22. *Lfng maps to mouse Chr 5 and human Chr 7. *Rfng maps to mouse Chr 11 and human Chr 17.

References

Animal genes {{Gene-stub