[Identification of Indy(p115) mutation in the Na+-dicarboxylate transporter gene in Drosophila melanogaster].

The P[lArB]-element insertional mutation (Indyp115) was obtained in the promoter region of the Na(+)-dicarboxylate transporter gene of Drosophila (gene Indy, I'm not dead yet) within the 75D region of chromosome 3. The expression pattern of the reporter beta-galactosidase was determined in various tissues of third-instar larvae and adult flies. Both males and females homozygous for this mutation were fertile, though their viability was reduced. The two lethality phases were revealed in embryogenesis at nucleus cleavage stages 1-5 to the point of blastoderm formation and at latest stages 15-16, as well as at stage 17, when the larval development is completed though the larva still remains in the chorion. The gene expression in the follicular cells of an embryo at the terminal oogenesis stages is suggested to cause the first lethality stage. The expression pattern of this gene seems also to account for the tissue- and stage-specific activity of the 5'-regulatory region in the Indy gene.