Comparison of gene expression in wild type Drosophila testes with various meiotic arrest mutants (comr and can)

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. There are two principle classes, aly-class (including comr) and can-class, here we compare their effects on gene expression We extracted RNA from wild type testes, as well as comr mutants and can 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 was red e, the background chromosome on which the can mutant was generated, and had normal testes. The comr mutants were comr[z1340] cn bw. The can mutants were w ; can[3] red e.