Molecular cloning of an olfactory gene from Drosophila melanogaster.

An olfactory gene olfE, which affects response to benzaldehyde in larvae and adults of Drosophila melanogaster, has been mapped between two breakpoints on the X chromosome. The breakpoints have been shown to lie at a distance no greater than 25 kilobases (kb). A 14-kb genomic fragment from this region has been used for germ-line transformation of olfE mutant flies, and in one of three transformant lines obtained, rescue of the olfE phenotype is observed by two separate behavioral assays. Transcript analysis of the region that rescues the olfE phenotype has shown one major transcript at 5.4 kb and a minor one at 1.7 kb. Both of these transcripts are probably alternatively spliced products of the olfE gene. A developmental and tissue-specific profile of the 5.4-kb olfE message has shown that it is present at all developmental stages, suggesting that the gene may be multifunctional.