Maternal control of the formation of the polarized blastoderm epithelium in the Drosophila embryo

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All ectodermally derived epithelia in Drosophila originate from the polarized blastoderm epithelium. The blastoderm epithelium is generated during cellularization of the syncytial blastoderm embryo. Only few genes have thus far been described that are specifically required for cellularization. The aim of the proposed research is to unravel mechanisms by which the polarized epithelium is established during cellularization. We have found that the maternal effect gene drop out (dop) is specifically required for early events in the formation of the blastoderm epithelium. dop mutant embryos fail to initiate membrane formation at the right time and fail to form the regular array of adherens junctions in the blastoderm epithelium. We have genetically mapped the dop locus into the cytological interval 71D1-3 and propose the molecular cloning and characterization of this gene and its product. To understand the specific function of dop in the generation of the blastoderm, we propose the detailed analysis of polarized cytoskeletal, elements, epithelial cell junctions and the formation of distinct membrane domains in the mutant embryos. In addition, we have identified 22 potentially novel maternal effect mutations that specifically affect the formation of the polarized blastoderm epithelium. We propose a more detailed phenotypic and molecular analysis of these mutations to assess the specific process these genes are involved in.