Genetic Reagents for Making Split-GAL4 Lines in Drosophila

Genetics. 2018 May;209(1):31-35. doi: 10.1534/genetics.118.300682. Epub 2018 Mar 13.

Abstract

The ability to reproducibly target expression of transgenes to small, defined subsets of cells is a key experimental tool for understanding many biological processes. The Drosophila nervous system contains thousands of distinct cell types and it has generally not been possible to limit expression to one or a few cell types when using a single segment of genomic DNA as an enhancer to drive expression. Intersectional methods, in which expression of the transgene only occurs where two different enhancers overlap in their expression patterns, can be used to achieve the desired specificity. This report describes a set of over 2800 transgenic lines for use with the split-GAL4 intersectional method.

Keywords: cell type; enhancer; gene expression; genetic intersection; neuron.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Crosses, Genetic
  • Drosophila / genetics*
  • Drosophila Proteins / chemistry
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics*
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic
  • Gene Expression
  • Genetic Vectors / genetics
  • Genotype
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Transcription Factors / chemistry
  • Transcription Factors / genetics*
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Transgenes

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins
  • GAL4 protein, Drosophila
  • Transcription Factors