UAS drives expression of an RNAi hairpin construct targeting Zyx. The forward direction comprises 1370bp of genomic DNA, beginning in exon 2a and extending through the first 17bp of exon 4b. The inverted repeat comprises 578bp of cDNA corresponds to part of exon 3 and the same region of exon 2 as the forward product.
Expression of ZyxdsRNA.Scer\UAS using Scer\GAL4how-24B has no observable phenotypic consequences.
Flies expressing ZyxdsRNA.Scer\UAS using Scer\GAL4Act5C.PI do not emerge fully from the pupal case and largely die as pharate adults. They show no obvious malformations of the eyes or bristles; thoracic and abdominal morphogenesis appear normal. Rare escapers that do emerge do not undergo wing inflation, contraction of the abdomen or cuticle hardening, and are for the most part unable to move properly. These escapers die within a day or two of eclosion.
Flies expressing ZyxdsRNA.Scer\UAS using Scer\GAL4Act5C.PI do not progress through the final stages of pupation properly. Molting fluid within the pupal case is not absorbed and the trachea do not whiten (an indicator of adult tracheal air filling). The lack of air-filled tracheolar processes is observed in the lobes of the ventral nerve cord and ovaries of pharate flies.
Tracheal terminal cells differentiate normally in ZyxdsRNA.Scer\UAS, Scer\GAL4Act5C.PI flies. However, elaborations of the terminal cells are often abnormal, showing a range in the degree of ramification.
