Ubiquitous and constitutive overexpression of Ctr1A^Scer\UAS.cHa under the control of Scer\GAL4^Act5C.PI leads to complete larval and pupal lethality when the flies are raised on normal food. The observed lethality is copper-dependent, since a large fraction of the flies successfully reach the adult stage if they are raised on food containing the copper-specific metal chelator BCS.

Overexpression of Ctr1A^Scer\UAS.cHa in the eye under the control of Scer\GAL4^GMR.PF results in a very severe rough eye phenotype and almost complete lethality for flies raised on normal food. A 250μM BCS food supplement completely restores the wild-type eye phenotype and wild-type levels of survival.

Strong, ubiquitous expression of Ctr1A^Scer\UAS.cHa under the control of Scer\GAL4^Act5C.PU is lethal when the flies are raised on normal food. Such flies can be partially rescued (<40%) by growing them on food supplemented with the copper chelator BCS.

Strong, eye-specific expression of Ctr1A^Scer\UAS.cHa (through the M{UAS-Ctr1C.S}51D insertion) under the control of Scer\GAL4^GMR.PF leads to severely disrupted eye morphology (the rigid quasi-crystalline pattern of the ommatidia is lost and ommatidia are fused, leading to an uneven eye surface; in addition, overall eye shape is changed) when raised on normal food. This rough eye phenotype can be fully rescued by the addition of the copper chelator BCS.