Use of mini-white as a reporter gene to screen for GAL4 insertions with spatially restricted expression pattern in the developing eye in Drosophila

摘要

We have previously used mini-white as a reporter gene in an enhancer trap screen to identify enhancers/silencers that specify spatially restricted expression patterns during Drosophila eye development (Sun et al., 1995). The mini-white gene carries its own eye-specific enhancer (Pirrotta et al., 1988), therefore causing uniform eye pigmentation. In rare cases, the P[mini-white] insertions cause a spatially restricted pigmentation pattern in the adult eye (Sun et al., 1995), suggesting that the mini-white enhancer activity can be suppressed by local silencer activities. The spatial expression pattern is likely a net effect of local enhancers and silencers. The screen yielded more than 20 loci with a position-specific expression (POSE) pattern in the developing eye (Sun et al., 1995).