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 has facilitated 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. The entire carboxy end of the D-elg protein has been overexpressed and used to generate antibodies to D-elg. 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.
