Mechanisms Controlling repo Transcription. Jamie L. Wood, Bradley W. Jones. Dept. of Biology, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS.

   Expression of the glial specific gene repo is required for proper glial cell development in Drosophila. repo is initially activated by the transcription factor Gcm, but other factors that act to maintain repo expression are currently unknown. We propose one of these factors is Repo protein acting in an autoregulatory manner. We have identified a region of the repo cis-regulatory DNA that produces ectopic epidermal expression when tested in a UAS-repo/Act5C-Gal4 system, indicating Repo can interact with this portion of the regulatory DNA. We have previously characterized this same fragment as producing epidermal reporter staining. We are also testing mutagenesis of putative Repo binding sites in the cis-regulatory DNA to determine if ectopic expression can be disrupted using the same UAS/Gal4 lines.