The research to be undertaken by Randall W. Phillis is intended to assess the ability of the baculovirus Autographa californica Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (AcNPV) to act as a vector for the horizontal transfer of transposable elements. The design will take advantage of a combination of the molecular genetics of AcNPV and Drosophila melanogaster. A recombinant AcNPV genome will be constructed which carries a P element from Drosophila melanogaster into which a functional copy of the Xanthine Dehydrogenase gene (Xdh) has been inserted. Baculovirus particles which carry this recombinant genome will be injected into larval and adult Drosophila melanogaster which lack activity of the Xdh gene. Transposition of the P element from the baculovirus genome to the Drosophila chromosomes will be scored by loss of the eye color phenotype associated with the mutant Xdh gene in the infected flies. Flies found to have gained Xdh activity in the genetic tests will be used in a series of experiments to characterize the Xdh/P element at the molecular level. This work will be completed during a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship tenure at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
