D-elg (Drosophila ets-like gene) is a member of the Drosophila ets-related gene family that has extensive homology to the ets proto-oncogene. Drosophila represents an excellent system for the study of gene function because of the wealth of developmental, genetic, and molecular approaches available. D-elg serves as a promising gene to investigate ets-related gene function since it maps in a genetically well-characterized region of the Drosophila genome; this should facilitate the identification and analysis of D-elg mutants. Toward a goal of understanding the function of this ets-related gene in normal development, the molecular analysis of D- elg, a member of the Drosophila ets gene family, has been continued. Based on the characterization of cDNA and genomic sequences, the D-elg gene contains at least five exons and produces an mRNA with an open reading frame of 464 amino acids. Consistent with this analysis, in vitro translation of a near full-length D-elg cRNA yields a protein of about 56 kD. D-elg shows significant homology to other ets proteins in the amino- terminal A domain and strong homology in the carboxy-terminal ETS domain. The D-elg protein is most similar to the alpha subunit of the mouse GA binding protein, and thus may represent the Drosophila homolog of this mouse transcription factor. D-elg is expressed as a single transcript of 2.0 kb that is expressed throughout embryogenesis, as well as pupae and adult stages, but absent from larvae. D-elg is expressed in all embryonic cells prior to transcriptional activation and has no regional localization. The carboxy terminal end of the D-elg protein has been overexpressed and used to generate antibodies to D-elg.
