The role of Dichaete in transcriptional regulation of Drosophila embryogenesis

Dichaete is a developmentally important transcription factor, known to be involved in basic biological processes including segmentation and nervous system development among others. The aim of this experiment was to gain further insight into the role of Dichaete during early embryogenesis, by looking at the disruption of gene expression in Dichaete mutants. Stage 10-11 embryos (5 and 7.5 hours after egg laying) from a cross between Dr72/TM3, twi-GAL4 UAS-Gfp Dr513/TM3, twi-GAL4 UAS-Gfp, were hand picked under a fluorescence dissecting microscope. GFP negative homozygous Dichaete mutant embryos and their heterozygous single GFP positive siblings were collected and approximately 150 embryos per sample were stored frozen in Trizol