In late pharate adults, Df(2L)VGlut12/Df(2L)VGlut12 somatic clones of persistent motor neurons which innervate the abdominal lateral tergosternal muscles have a slightly (but significantly) increased total axonal arbor length, with no difference in area of arbor coverage compared to wild-type controls.
Df(2L)VGlut12 is embryonic lethal.
No synaptic events are detected in Df(2L)VGlut12 homozygous embryos, while spontaneous miniature excitatory unction curents (mEJCs) are abundant in wild-type. This defect is presynaptic as the response to pressure-ejected glutamate is not significantly different between wild-type and mutant muscles.
Df(2L)VGlut2 completely removes the VGlut coding region and disrupts the adjacent gene CG18641.