Effect of Dorsal, Dif, and Relish mutation on Drosophila response to G- Bacteria

The abstract of the manuscript titled "Microarray analyses reveal possible new targets for the Rel protein Dif in Drosophila melanogaster " is given below: The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster express three closely related NF-κB-like transcription factors: Dorsal, Dif, and Relish. They share significant sequence identity in their DNA binding Rel homology domain and bind similar DNA sequence motifs. These factors play an important role in the transcription of Drosophila humoral immune proteins such as antimicrobial peptides during infection. To study their roles in vivo, we used microarrays to determine the effect of null mutations in individual Rel transcription factors on larval gene expression. Of the 188 genes that were significantly upregulated in wildtype larvae upon bacterial challenge, overlapping but distinct groups of genes were affected in the Rel mutants. We also ectopically expressed Dorsal or Dif and used cDNA microarrays to determine the genes that were up-regulated in the presence of these transcription factors. Combining this data, we identified novel genes that may be specific targets of Dif. Keywords: genetic modification This study uses Affymetrix chips to study the effect on gene expression when third instar larvae are injected with PBS or E. coli bacteria. Wildtype, Dorsal1 mutant, Dif1 mutant, and Relish E20 mutant larvae are used to determine the effect of the mutations on gene expression.