Functional Analysis of the Broad- Complex in Drosophila

吉尔德博士正在研究一个基因表达程序，这对果蝇黑腹果蝇的发育很重要。在这个程序中，基因的顺序表达是幼虫唾液腺受类固醇激素蜕皮激素的调节，并通过一连串的转录调节进行。Broad-Complex （BR-C）基因座编码多种产物，并在该级联的早期起作用，调节下游（晚期）基因的表达。Guild博士将描述BR-C产物，以了解这些早期基因如何与晚期基因交流。通过采用遗传方法，他应该能够确定哪些RNA产物具有这种功能。他将通过开发针对不同BR-C rna和蛋白质的产品特异性探针，来验证不同BR-C产物在不同但平行的组织特异性基因表达程序中发挥作用的想法。此外，他将通过测量结合的BR-C产物的多烯基因组来确定BR-C产物是否与唾液腺级联中的任何其他位点直接相互作用。这一建议是关于激素调控的一个复杂的遗传位点的表达，涉及果蝇的变态，一个模式生物的研究发育遗传学。

Dr. Guild is studying a program of gene expression which is important to the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Sequential expression of the genes in this program is the larval salivary gland is regulated by the steroid hormone ecdysone and proceeds through a cascade of transcriptional regulation. The Broad-Complex (BR-C) locus encodes multiple products and acts early in this cascade to regulate the expression of downstream (late) genes. Dr. Guild will characterize BR-C products in order to learn how these early genes communicate with late genes. By taking a genetic approach he should be able to identify which RNA products serve in this capacity. He will test the idea that different BR-C products play roles in different but parallel tissue specific gene expression programs by developing product specific probes for different BR-C RNAs and proteins. In addition, he will determine whether BR-C products interact in a direct way with any other loci in the salivary gland cascade by surveying this polytene genome for bound BR-C products. %%% This proposal is concerned with the hormone regulated expression of a complicated genetic locus involved in metamorphosis in Drosophila, a model organism for the study of developmental genetics.