RESUMEN
Using a large consortium of undergraduate students in an organized program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), we have undertaken a functional genomic screen in the Drosophila eye. In addition to the educational value of discovery-based learning, this article presents the first comprehensive genomewide analysis of essential genes involved in eye development. The data reveal the surprising result that the X chromosome has almost twice the frequency of essential genes involved in eye development as that found on the autosomes.
Asunto(s)
Drosophila melanogaster/genética , Ojo , Genes Letales/genética , Mutación , Cromosoma X , Animales , Células Clonales , Drosophila melanogaster/fisiología , Ojo/crecimiento & desarrollo , Genes Esenciales , Genes de Insecto , Genoma de los InsectosRESUMEN
We conducted a screen for glossy-eye flies that fail to incorporate BrdU in the third larval instar eye disc but exhibit normal neuronal differentiation and isolated 23 complementation groups of mutants. These same phenotypes were previously seen in mutants for cytochrome c oxidase subunit Va. We have molecularly characterized six complementation groups and, surprisingly, each encodes a mitochondrial protein. Therefore, we believe our screen to be an efficient method for identifying genes with mitochondrial function.