Nicholson, L., Singh, G.K., Osterwalder, T., Roman, G.W., Davis, R.L., Keshishian, H. (2008). Spatial and temporal control of gene expression in Drosophila using the inducible GeneSwitch GAL4 System. I. Screen for larval nervous system drivers.  Genetics 178(1): 215--234.

FBrf0202785

Research paper

There is a critical need for genetic methods for the inducible expression of transgenes in specific cells during development. A promising approach for this is the GeneSwitch GAL4 system of Drosophila. With GeneSwitch GAL4 the expression of upstream activating sequence (UAS) effector lines is controlled by a chimeric GAL4 protein that becomes active in the presence of the steroid RU486 (mifepristone). To improve the utility of this expression system, we performed a large-scale enhancer-trap screen for insertions that yielded nervous system expression. A total of 204 GeneSwitch GAL4 lines with various larval expression patterns in neurons, glia, and/or muscle fibers were identified for chromosomes I-III. All of the retained lines show increased activity when induced with RU486. Many of the lines reveal novel patterns of sensory neurons, interneurons, and glia. There were some tissue-specific differences in background expression, with muscles and glia being more likely to show activity in the absence of the inducing agent. However, >90% of the neuron-specific driver lines showed little or no background activity, making them particularly useful for inducible expression studies.

PMC2206072 (PMC) (EuropePMC)