Chapter 16, Problem 11P

a.

You want to create a genetic construct that will express GFP in Drosophila. In addition to the GFP coding sequence, what DNA element(s) must you include in order to express this protein in flies if the construct were integrated into the Drosophila genome? Where should such DNA element(s) be located? How would you ensure that GFP is expressed only in certain tissues of the fly, such as the wing?

b.

Suppose you insert the GFP coding region plus all of the DNA elements required by the answer to part (a) excepting the enhancer in between inverted repeats found at the end of a particular transposable element. Because all of the DNA sequences located between these inverted repeats can move from place to place in the Drosophila genome, you can generate many different fly strains, each with the construct integrated at a different genomic location. You now examine animals from each strain for GFP fluorescence. Animals from different strains show different patterns: some glow green in the eyes, others in legs, some show no green fluorescence, etc. Explain these results and describe a potential use for this experiment.