Dr. Ma's long term goal is to understand how genes are turned on and off during early Drosophila embryo development and how gene activities govern the processes of embryonic pattern formation. He will focus on the maternal gene bicoid, which organizes the anterior pattern of the Drosophila embryo. The specific aims of this project are: 1)Further study of the bicoid protein segments that are conserved among other proteins involved in embryonic pattern formation in both Drosophila and other organisms, 2) Understand how bicoid protein turns gene(s) on and off and thereby specifies the anterior structures of the embryos, 3) Determine whether the only essential function of bicoid protein during early embryo development is to stimulate the expression of the hunchback gene, 4) Understand how modification of bicoid protein affects its activity, 5) Isolate and study of Drosophila genes that modulate the activity of bicoid protein and genes whose expression is controlled by bicoid protein. A combination of biochemical and genetic methods will be used. To facilitate the study, Dr. Ma will continue to use the powerful techniques of yeast genetics: various derivatives of bicoid protein will be generated and analyzed in yeast cells, and new Drosophila genes will be isolated using the yeast genetic system. The bicoid derivatives will also be tested in Drosophila embryos either by injecting the in vitro synthesized mRNA into the embryos or by introducing the genes into the Drosophila chromosome. %%% How genes are turned on and off during embryo development and how regulation of gene expression in turn directs embryonic pattern formation are essential question in developmental biology. This study exploits the powerful molecular genetic capabilities of yeast combined with that of Drosophila to address these questions with respect to the initial establishment of the anterior- posterior axis of the organism.
