Institut für Genetik der FU Berlin, Arnimallee 7, D-14195 Berlin
Synthesis and release of ecdysone and juvenile hormone from the ring gland of Drosophila are regulated via neuropeptides from cells of the central nervous system (CNS). To identify genes expressed in the CNS which are involved in the regulation of ring gland functions and the corresponding target genes in the ring gland, we tested about 800 enhancer trap lines for lacZ expression in specific CNS cells and/or in the ring gland cells. Two lines were selected for further analysis. Both lines cns/caa and cns/cab show identical lacZ expression in the corpus allatum and in distinct CNS cells during the larval stages. In addition, line cns/caa shows specific lacZ expression in the embryo and in adults. Only about five percent of homozygotes of line cns/caa reach the adult stage, but eclosing males and females are sterile. The phenotype of line cns/cab is wild type. Genomic DNA of the integration sites of both lines has been cloned via plasmid rescue. The distance between the P-element integration sites of lines lines cns/caa and cns/cab is less than 100 bp. Analyses of isolated cDNA clones indicate differential splicing of the primary transcript. Sequence analyses of the cDNAs characterize the gene product as a DNA-binding protein with an AT-rich interaction domain (ARID) known from different species like yeast and man.