| Modification Notes |
Drosophila melanogaster is a proven and effective model for studying developmental and cellular processes common to higher eukaryotes. Approximately 13,600 genes have been elucidated from more than 120 megabases of euchromatin, and they are organized among the chromosomes 2, 3, 4, X and Y, with the Y chromosome being predominately heterochromatic. Drosophila genes can be categorized based on the type of protein for which they encode and are represented by six major classifications, which include intracellular signaling proteins, transmembrane proteins, RNA binding proteins, secreted factors, transcription regulators (basic helix-loop-helix, homeodomain containing, zinc finger containing, and chromatin associated) or other functional proteins. Vasa is a DEAD-box protein that localizes to the perinuclear region of nurse cells during early oogenesis and later to the pole plasm at the posterior end of the oocyte. Vasa influences normal oocyte differentiation, anterior-posterior egg chamber patterning, dorsal-ventral follicle patterning, posterior embryonic patterning and pole cell specification. |