gatA¹¹²/Df(3R)Cha7 larvae do not show any obvious patterning defects, but they grow more slowly than their wild-type siblings. By 3-4 days after egg laying (AEL), the larvae are smaller than controls, and by 5 days after AEL some of the mutant larvae are dead and the living larvae are obviously smaller than controls. The mutant larvae do not pupariate by the end of the fifth day AEL (in contrast to controls) but continue to forage actively on the surface of the food, rarely burrowing into the food and some of them live 9 days or longer as larvae. On day 5 AEL only 76% of the mutant larvae are third instar larvae (the remainder are second instar larvae), in contrast to control larvae which are all third instar larvae by this time.

The imaginal discs and brains of 5-day old gatA¹¹²/Df(3R)Cha7 larvae are much smaller than those of control larvae of the same age. By 3-4 days AEL, the salivary glands of the mutant larvae are smaller and contain less DNA than those of control siblings at 3-4 days, with this difference being even more dramatic at 5 days AEL.

Homozygous clones in the eye result in small and misshapen eyes which have various differentiation defects, including cuticle scars and ectopic bristles.

Homozygous clones can be recovered in the eye. Females containing homozygous germ-line clones show defects in early oogenesis. The mutant egg chambers contain underreplicated nurse cells whose nuclei retain polytene morphology beyond stage 5. The karyosomes are fragmented or stringy. This allele has a strong effect on the nurse cell nuclei.