Subject: Genes bft and MESK1 are probably allelic
Hardiman et al. 2002 (FBrf0149016) have described the bereft (bft)
gene and its association with transcripts that lack long ORFs.
FlyBase has assigned this gene the synonym CR31863. In looking at
this region with the Genome Browser, I noticed that EP(2)0980 is
inserted near the 5' end of this gene. In fact, the insertion is
located 13 nt upstream of the common 5' end of the long and short
mRNAs of bft, as defined by the cDNAs reported by Hardiman et al.
2002 (accession AF486813 amd AF313801). Huang and Rubin 2000
(FBrf0131317) reported that EP(2)0980 interacts genetically with ksr
and Ras85D. They named this gene Misexpression Suppressor of KDN 1,
abbreviated as MESK1. They did not molecularly define the gene
corresponding to MESK1. The proximity of EP(2)0980 to bft suggests
that bft and MESK1 are allelic.
As part of the BDGP Gene Disruption Project, we have localized
several more P elements very close to the 5' end of bft. The line
KG08390, which is now at the Bloomington stock center, is inserted 20
nt upstream of the 5' end of bft. A more recently-generated line,
EY04690, is inserted in exon 1 of bft and is oriented such that it
should permit Gal4-regulated mis-expression of the downstream
sequences of bft. This line is currently being maintained in Hugo
Bellen's lab, where it was generated, and can be requested through
their P screen web site form
(http://flypush.imgen.bcm.tmc.edu/pscreen/). Because of its
proximity to KG08390, we will probably not send EY04690 to
Bloomington unless it is sent as a replacement for KG08390. It would
be interesting to see if either KG08390 or EY04690 show the
interactions reported for mutant alleles of bft and MESK1.
...Bob Levis
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Robert W. Levis, Ph.D.
Carnegie Institution of Washington
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