Dorsal and neural expression of a tyrosine kinase-related Drosophila gene during embryonic development

Sequence analysis of an embryonic transcript of Drosophila predicts a tyrosine protein kinase-related gene. The prediction is based on several protein domains that are homologous to the functional domains of kinase-related oncogenes and several serine, threonine, and tyrosine protein kinases. For this reason, we named this gene Drosophila tyrosine kinase related (dTKR). dTKR maps into chromosome band 2R 60F1. It is initially expressed at blastoderm stage, showing transient transcript accumulations at dorso-lateral positions of the embryo and differences along its longitudinal axis. At later stages of embryogenesis, dTKR transcripts are found exclusively in neural anlagen. Both the region-specific pattern of expression and the putative kinase function are consistent with the suggestion of a regulatory role for this gene during development, which remains to be elucidated.