Comparative Genomics and Gene Annotation of a Region of Drosophila eugracilis Chromosome 4

Abstract

The common fruit fly, Drosophilia melanogaster, has around 1,300 genes in its genome. Chromosome 4 is 3.5% of its genome and contains approximately 80 genes within large heterochromatic domains. Interestingly, these genes are expressed at similar levels to genes found in euchromatin. The goal of the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) project is to understand the gene expression within this heterochromatic environment. For the GEP project, we are identifying conserved DNA regulatory sequences around transcription start sites using the fourth chromosome from other species of Drosophila and D. melanogaster. I annotated genes located within a 35,000 base‐pair section of Drosophilia eugracilis chromosome 4 using BLASTX, Gene predictors, and RNA‐seq evidence within the UCSC Genome Browser. I annotated coding exons and splice sites for 2 genes with 3 isoforms each, Cubitis interruptus (Ci) and Ribosomal protein S3A (RpS3A) and the transcription start sites for each gene. GEP students are annotating many megabases of DNA and their pooled results are furthering an understanding of heterochromatic gene structure and regulation.Support or Funding InformationSupported by NSF IUSE #1431407 and NIH R25GM119157 to Sarah C.R. Elgin (GEP) and NSF HRD#1623340 to MVSThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.