myb provides an essential function during Drosophila development

摘要

Vertebrate c-myb encodes a transcription factor thought to play an important role in the cell cycle. To gain further insight into myb function, we have been studying a related gene in Drosophila. We found that Drosophila myb is abundantly expressed throughout development in all mitotic- cally active tissues, at lower levels in some postmitotic tissues, but not at detectable levels in polyploid larval tissues. We performed genetic screens to isolate recessive lethal mutations in the chromosomal region that includes the myb gene.