| One long-standing and thought-provoking question in developmental biology is how an early egg achieves asymmetry, and how this asymmetry is interpreted to produce pattern in the adult organism. By choosing to study development in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, I had hoped to understand and contribute to the growing field of knowledge that was unraveling these basic questions. My original goal of understanding the interpretation of asymmetry has been extended to encompass the mechanisms involved in the maintenance of this asymmetry.; This thesis concerns the discovery and analysis of the tantalus (tan) gene identified in a yeast two-hybrid screen as a protein interactor for the fushi tarazu protein, a pair-rule gene involved in asymmetry interpretation. tan was also independently identified in the lab of Dr. Hugh Brock at the University of British Columbia as an interactor for the Additional sex combs (Asx ) protein, a gene involved in asymmetry maintenance.; Approximately 50% of Drosophila genes appear to be unique to this species and tan would seem to fall into this category, as tan is not homologous to any other identified genes. To understand the role of tan during development, the expression of both the and protein have been followed, and a null tan allele was created. Studies of over- and under expression of tan suggest that the gene functions in a tissue-specific manner. Interestingly, Asx also has tissue-specific activity, and a collaboration between our lab and Dr. Brock's lab has demonstrated a physical and genetical interaction between tan and Asx. These results have led to the proposal that TAN acts as a tissue-specific cofactor for ASX. |
