The project is focused on studies of gene expression during development in Drosophila melanogaster. Mutations of the white locus, which encodes a product that has strong sequence similarity with ATP-binding membrane transport proteins including the product of the cystic fibrosis gene of humans, show a wide range of changes in expression and regulation. We have concentrated on a group that originated by insertion of the transposon BEL into the 5' region of the gene. Derivatives of the original mutant strain show unusual regulatory changes in white expression. The mutant effects are cis-acting but similar to transacting effects between paired alleles in homologous chromosomes. We are attempting to understand the basis of the transvection phenomenon through the study of the cis-acting mutants. We are also studying the developmental regulation of white expression in various tissues and organs to determine its function.
