Comparison of gene expression in wild type Drosophila testes with various meiotic arrest mutants

The expression of a very large number of genes changes as male germ cells pass through differentiation into spermatids and then sperm. Much of this transcriptional programme requires the activity of the meiotic arrest genes. We extracted RNA from wild type testes, as well as aly mutants and Nxt1 mutants, and used microarrays to compare gene expression profiles. We dissected testes from 0-1 day old Drosophila males, taking care to remove accessory glands and ejaculatory ducts. The control sample expressed a tin-RNAi construct, and had normal testes. The aly mutant were homozygous for aly[5]. The Nxt1 mutants were Nxt1[z2-0488]/Nxt1[DG05102].