CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF 3 MUSCA-DOMESTICA YOLK PROTEIN GENES

The yolk protein (yp) genes encode the major nutritional polypeptides deposited in developing oocytes for subsequent utilization during embr yogenesis, and represent a highly conserved family of genes in higher Diptera. Originally isolated from Drosophila melanogaster, they are ex pressed in a temporal-, tissue- and sex-specific manner in all species in which they have been identified. We report here the isolation of c DNAs encoding three independent yolk proteins from the common housefly , Musca domestica. Expression of the three M. domestica yp genes is an alysed both by Northern and in-situ hybridization. We discuss in an ev olutionary context both the significance of the expression patterns, a nd regions of apparent polypeptide sequence divergence.