Biomaterial Database

Molecular analysis of the swallow gene of Drosophila melanogaster. 1988

E C Stephenson, and Y C Chao, and J D Fackenthal

Department of Biology, University of Rochester, New York 14627.

We report the cloning and molecular characterization of the swallow gene, a maternal-effect gene of Drosophila melanogaster. Maternal-effect genes are transcribed only during oogenesis; one such gene, bicoid, encodes a message that is localized at the anterior end of oocytes, eggs, and early embryos. swallow+ activity is necessary during oogenesis for bicoid message localization. We show here that a fragment of a previously identified clone, introduced into the genome by P-element-mediated transformation, is able to rescue the maternal-effect lethality of swallow mutants, confirming the identity of this clone as swallow. By in situ hybridization, we show that swallow message is synthesized in nurse cells during oogenesis but is not localized along either the anterior-posterior or dorsal-ventral axes. We have confirmed an earlier finding that the localization of bicoid message is defective in swallow- oocytes and eggs.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009154	Mutation	Any detectable and heritable change in the genetic material that causes a change in the GENOTYPE and which is transmitted to daughter cells and to succeeding generations.	Mutations
D009866	Oogenesis	The process of germ cell development in the female from the primordial germ cells through OOGONIA to the mature haploid ova (OVUM).	Oogeneses
D010957	Plasmids	Extrachromosomal, usually CIRCULAR DNA molecules that are self-replicating and transferable from one organism to another. They are found in a variety of bacterial, archaeal, fungal, algal, and plant species. They are used in GENETIC ENGINEERING as CLONING VECTORS.	Episomes,Episome,Plasmid
D003001	Cloning, Molecular	The insertion of recombinant DNA molecules from prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic sources into a replicating vehicle, such as a plasmid or virus vector, and the introduction of the resultant hybrid molecules into recipient cells without altering the viability of those cells.	Molecular Cloning
D004331	Drosophila melanogaster	A species of fruit fly frequently used in genetics because of the large size of its chromosomes.	D. melanogaster,Drosophila melanogasters,melanogaster, Drosophila
D005260	Female		Females
D005314	Embryonic and Fetal Development	Morphological and physiological development of EMBRYOS or FETUSES.	Embryo and Fetal Development,Prenatal Programming,Programming, Prenatal
D005796	Genes	A category of nucleic acid sequences that function as units of heredity and which code for the basic instructions for the development, reproduction, and maintenance of organisms.	Cistron,Gene,Genetic Materials,Cistrons,Genetic Material,Material, Genetic,Materials, Genetic
D005804	Genes, Lethal	Genes whose loss of function or gain of function MUTATION leads to the death of the carrier prior to maturity. They may be essential genes (GENES, ESSENTIAL) required for viability, or genes which cause a block of function of an essential gene at a time when the essential gene function is required for viability.	Alleles, Lethal,Allele, Lethal,Gene, Lethal,Lethal Allele,Lethal Alleles,Lethal Gene,Lethal Genes