New tool for female reproductive genetics

(Carnegie Institution for Science) The fruit fly Drosophila is powerful for studying development and disease and there are many tools to genetically modify its cells. One tool, the Gal4/UAS system, has been a mainstay of Drosophila genetics for twenty-five years. But it only functions effectively in non-reproductive cells, not in egg-producing cells. It has not been known why. Carnegie's Steven DeLuca and Allan Spradling discovered why and developed a new tool that can work in both cell types.