GENETIC DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT IN DROSOPHILA

果蝇Drosophila melanogaster中的无果位点将是 基因分析，结合各种分子和解剖学 技术. 根据先前的分析，这个位点控制着各种各样的男性- 具体的，性行为相关的功能;其功能在水平 然而，基因表达完全没有特征。 无果 这里要研究的功能是这个位点在 对大肌肉发育的调节， 在成年雄性果蝇中。 一种方法是诱导和隔离新的 突变扰乱了这一功能;“诱变剂”将是一个 标记的转座子，这将有助于直接克隆无结果DNA 与插入物邻接。 这可能导致克隆和分子 不结果实的特征。 一组独立的实验将 评估这些新突变对神经肌肉功能的表型影响， 解剖学;腹部肌肉组织及其神经支配将是 在突变和正常肌肉中都有特征。 一个相关的 实验将类似地评估男性马赛克， 基因型正常，部分无结果。 这个实验可能 确定fruitless是否编码一种“发育诱导物”， 调节着这块肌肉的发育 这些实验将揭露 学生的遗传逻辑，并教遗传变异的效用， 推断出男性特异性发育的基因功能 肌肉.

The fruitless locus in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster will be analyzed genetically, incorporating a variety of molecular and anatomical techniques. By prior analysis, this locus controls a variety of male- specific, sex-behavior related functions; its function at the level of gene expression, however, is completely uncharacterized. The fruitless function that will be studied here is the role this locus plays in the regulation of the development of a large muscle that occurs specifically in adult male abdomens. One approach will be to induce and isolate new mutations that upset this function; the "mutagenic agent" will be a marked transposon which will facilitate direct cloning of fruitless DNA contiguous with the insert. This could lead to cloning and molecular characterization of fruitless. An independent set of experiments will assess the phenotypic impact of these new mutations on neuromuscular anatomy; the abdominal musculature and its innervation will be characterized in both mutant and normal muscles. A correlating experiment will similarly assess male mosaics whose abdomens are part normal, part fruitless in genotype. This experiment could potentially determine whether fruitless encodes a "developmental inducer" which regulates the development of this muscle. These experiments will expose students to genetic logic, and teach the utility of genetic variants in deducing gene function underlying the development of the male-specific muscle.