OSCR

NimA promotes cell adhesion at the blood brain barrier of the Drosophila nervous system.

Overview

Authors: Rosy Sakr1,2,3,4,5, Sara Monticelli1,2,3,4, Smrithi Kizhakkenottiyath Shasthadevan1,2,3,4, Claude Delaporte1,2,3,4, Gege Zhang1,2,3,4, Tarek Tabiat1,2,3,4, Angela Giangrande1,2,3,4, Pierre B Cattenoz1,2,3,4
ORCID iDs: Sara Monticelli, Smrithi Kizhakkenottiyath Shasthadevan, Tarek Tabiat, Angela Giangrande, Pierre B Cattenoz
  1. Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire,Illkirch, France
  2. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104,Illkirch, France
  3. Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale,U1258 Illkirch, France
  4. Université de Strasbourg,Illkirch, France
  5. Present Address: Laboratory of Genome Integrity, CCR, NCI, NIH,Bethesda, MD USA
Institutions: Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France); Inserm (France); Université de Strasbourg (France); National Institutes of Health (United States)
Journal: EMBO reports, volume 27, issue 7, pages 1648-1665
Dates: received 13 January 2025; accepted 9 February 2026; published online 3 March 2026; in print April 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1 · PMID 41776313 · PMCID PMC13076899 · OpenAlex W7133306816
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: drosophila (organism)
Methods: Evoked potentials
Keywords: NimA, Glia, Neurodevelopment, Drosophila, Nimrod family, Cell Adhesion, Polarity & Cytoskeleton, Neuroscience
MeSH: Blood-Brain Barrier*, Cell Adhesion*, Drosophila*, Drosophila melanogaster*, Drosophila Proteins*, Nervous System*, Animals, Cell Proliferation, Neural Stem Cells, Neurodevelopment, Neuroglia, Neurons (* major topic)
Topic: Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation (Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Université de Strasbourg (Unistra); Agence Nationale de la Recherche (French National Research Agency) (ANR-20-CE16-0013); Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (Foundation for Medical Research in France) (FDT2020010107630); Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR); Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau (FRC); Chinese scholarship Council; Ligue Contre le Cancer; Fondation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (ARC); USIAS; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm); IdEx Unistra (ANR-10-IDEX-0002); SFRI-STRAT'US (ANR 20-SFRI-0012); EUR IMCBio (ANR-17-EURE-0023)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 86 references in the paper
Research resources: About 0.5 µg of Gal4 expression vector RRID:DGRC_1019, RRID:DGRC_1419, Fiji RRID:SCR_002285, IMARIS RRID:SCR_007370, Adobe Illustrator RRID:SCR_010279

Abstract

Glial cells are crucial for nervous system development and function by clearing debris, protecting neurons and ensuring neuronal survival. In Drosophila, glia form the blood–brain barrier, which regulates neural stem cell proliferation and shields the nervous system while maintaining communication with the rest of the organism. To uncover glial-specific roles, we here compare their transcriptome with that of neurons and macrophages. Our study identifies NimA, an uncharacterized member of the Nimrod family, as a glial-specific protein expressed during development. Unlike other family members (i.e. NimC1, Draper and NimC4/Simu) NimA is not involved in phagocytosis. Instead, NimA regulates cell–cell adhesion, crucial for maintaining the tight septate junctions of the larval BBB. Loss of NimA in BBB-forming glia compromises barrier integrity. Moreover, loss of NimA in those glia, or in glia that serve as neural stem cell niche, delays development, reduces brain size, impairs proliferation and reduces the neural stem cell pool. The identification of the glial-specific molecular landscape, including novel molecular players such as NimA, is key for understanding the contribution of glia to the nervous system.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

Other data links

Data availability

The RNA-seq data for the glia and neurons are available in the European Nucleotide Archive, accession: E-MTAB-14413 (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/experiments/E-MTAB-14413/) (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB79719). Data Ref: (Sakr et al, 2024).

The source data of this paper are collected in the following database record: biostudies:S-SCDT-10_1038-S44319-026-00728-1 (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/sourcedata/studies/S-SCDT-10_1038-S44319-026-00728-1).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 8 authors, 7 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 14 funders, 85 references, 5 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Sakr, R., Monticelli, S., Kizhakkenottiyath Shasthadevan, S., Delaporte, C., Zhang, G., Tabiat, T., Giangrande, A., & Cattenoz, P. B. (2026). NimA promotes cell adhesion at the blood brain barrier of the Drosophila nervous system. EMBO reports, 27(7), 1648-1665. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1

BibTeX

@article{sakr2026nima,
author = {Sakr, Rosy and Monticelli, Sara and Kizhakkenottiyath Shasthadevan, Smrithi and Delaporte, Claude and Zhang, Gege and Tabiat, Tarek and Giangrande, Angela and Cattenoz, Pierre B},
title = {{NimA promotes cell adhesion at the blood brain barrier of the Drosophila nervous system}},
journal = {EMBO reports},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
volume = {27},
number = {7},
pages = {1648--1665},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
issn = {1469-221X},
doi = {10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1},
pmid = {41776313},
pmcid = {PMC13076899}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Sakr, Rosy
AU - Monticelli, Sara
AU - Kizhakkenottiyath Shasthadevan, Smrithi
AU - Delaporte, Claude
AU - Zhang, Gege
AU - Tabiat, Tarek
AU - Giangrande, Angela
AU - Cattenoz, Pierre B
TI - NimA promotes cell adhesion at the blood brain barrier of the Drosophila nervous system
T2 - EMBO reports
J2 - EMBO Rep
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/03/03
VL - 27
IS - 7
SP - 1648
EP - 1665
SN - 1469-221X
PB - Nature Publishing Group
DO - 10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

{
"id": "10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1",
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "NimA promotes cell adhesion at the blood brain barrier of the Drosophila nervous system",
"container-title": "EMBO reports",
"author": [
{
"family": "Sakr",
"given": "Rosy"
},
{
"family": "Monticelli",
"given": "Sara"
},
{
"family": "Kizhakkenottiyath Shasthadevan",
"given": "Smrithi"
},
{
"family": "Delaporte",
"given": "Claude"
},
{
"family": "Zhang",
"given": "Gege"
},
{
"family": "Tabiat",
"given": "Tarek"
},
{
"family": "Giangrande",
"given": "Angela"
},
{
"family": "Cattenoz",
"given": "Pierre B"
}
],
"container-title-short": "EMBO Rep",
"volume": "27",
"issue": "7",
"page": "1648-1665",
"DOI": "10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1",
"PMID": "41776313",
"PMCID": "PMC13076899",
"ISSN": "1469-221X",
"publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
"URL": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00728-1",
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
3,
3
]
]
}
}

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1093/nar/gkag294 [code]
Developmental stage dominates cell-type identity and reveals a chromatin regulatory function for Rad50 in Drosophila.
Journal: Nucleic acids research
In common: drosophila, 5 references, author Angela Giangrande
[2] doi:10.1113/jp288582
Neuronal loss of the pentose phosphate pathway in the living nervous system is causally linked to [NADPH] reduction and elevated oxidative stress.
Journal: The Journal of physiology
In common: drosophila, 4 references
[3] doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003901 [code]
Peroxisomal import is circadian in glia and regulates sleep and lipid metabolism.
Journal: PLoS biology
In common: drosophila, 3 references
[4] doi:10.1002/advs.202510538 [code]
Temporal and Cell-Specific Regulation of Synaptic Homeostasis by the Chromatin Remodeler Chd1.
Journal: Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
In common: drosophila, 3 references
[5] doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10526-3
Transcription factor codes patterning neuronal groundplans of the cerebrum.
Journal: Nature
In common: drosophila, 3 references
[6] doi:10.7554/elife.105386
Parkinson's disease-associated <i>PINK1</i> loss disrupts ensheathing glia and causes dopaminergic neuron synapse loss.
Journal: eLife
In common: drosophila, 3 references
[7] doi:10.1242/dmm.052810
Fos regulates age-dependent neuroinflammation in a VAPP58S model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Journal: Disease models & mechanisms
In common: drosophila, 3 references
[8] doi:10.1073/pnas.2605750123
Light- and temperature-sensitive seizures are regulated by spatially distinct cortex glial populations in the central nervous system.
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
In common: drosophila, 2 references
[9] doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07173-8 [code]
The Cell Ontology in the age of single-cell omics.
Journal: Scientific data
In common: 3 references
[10] doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-25-4018 [code]
MIF-Induced CD74+ Microglia and Macrophages Promote Progression of Brain Metastasis and Are Clinically Relevant across Central Nervous System Disorders.
Journal: Cancer research
In common: 3 references

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.