A 3265 base pair fragment from the flanking non-coding or intronic region of dsx is fused upstream of a Drosophila core synthetic promoter (DSCP) followed by sequence encoding a lexA::p65 driver. The driver sequence has been optimized for Drosophila codon usage. An Hsp70 transcriptional terminator is present.
Inhibition (using Ctet\tetXTNT-LC.FRT.stop.UAS with Scer\FLP1L.8xlexAop) of cells expressing both Scer\GAL4dsx.Δ2 and Ecol\lexAGMR41A01 in adult virgin females significantly reduces copulation within 10 min of introduction to a male, compared to controls.
Thermogenetic activation (using TrpA1FRT.stop.UAS.Tag:MYC with Scer\FLP1L.8xlexAop at 27[o]C) of cells expressing both Scer\GAL4dsx.Δ2 and Ecol\lexAGMR41A01 in mature adult virgin females, but not immature or mated females, significantly increases copulation within 10 min of introduction to a male, compared to baseline, unlike controls.
Although alleles from the Janelia Farm lexA driver collection incorporate the same enhancer fragments used to create the Janelia Farm GAL4 driver alleles (GMR_Brain_exp_1), significant differences are frequently observed in the expression pattern of a given enhancer fragment inserted in the P{CaryP}attP40 or other docking site compared to the same fragment inserted in the P{CaryP}attP2 docking site. Generally the Ecol\lexA patterns are subsets of the Scer\GAL4 patterns.