Drosophila Mrityu encodes a BTB/POZ domain-containing protein and is expressed dynamically during development.

We report the identification and characterization of expression of a new gene in Drosophila, which we have named Mrityu (Mri). Mri was initially isolated in a microarray screen to identify molecules regulated by the transcription factor klumpfuss during retinal apoptosis. The amino acid sequence of Mri contains a BTB/POZ domain with homologues across the animal kingdom. Mri transcripts are present at every developmental stage as assayed by RT-PCR. We show expression of Mri transcripts in the female germline, confined to the nurse cells, beginning at stage 7/8. During embryonic development Mri is uniformly expressed early and then is refined to the gut and mesoderm primordia while expression decreases in the ectoderm. In the retina Mri is again expressed uniformly early, i.e., in the third instar larva and becomes more refined during pupal development where the transcripts is dynamically expressed in the cone cells and primary, secondary and tertiary pigment cells.