The maternal ventralizing locus torpedo is allelic to faint little ball, an embryonic lethal, and encodes the Drosophila EGF receptor homolog

James V. Price, Robert J. Clifford, Trudi Schüpbach

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

240 Scopus citations

Abstract

The torpedo gene of Drosophila melanogaster is involved in the establishment of the dorsoventral pattern of eggshell and embryo. We have isolated new alleles of torpedo and have found that torpedo is allelic to the zygotic embryonic lethal faint little ball. We have shown that torpedo resides in subdivision 57F on the second chromosome - at the same location as the Drosophila homolog of the EGF receptor (DER). Using a cosmid that contains most of the DER coding region as a hybridization probe, we have shown that a cytologically small deficiency that eliminates torpedo activity also removes the DER gene, and that an inversion that was isolated as a strong torpedo allele breaks the coding region of the DER gene. We conclude that torpedo is the DER gene.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1085-1092
Number of pages8
JournalCell
Volume56
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 24 1989

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The maternal ventralizing locus torpedo is allelic to faint little ball, an embryonic lethal, and encodes the Drosophila EGF receptor homolog'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this