Sequence, molecular organization and products of the Drosophila virilis homologs of the D. melanogaster nested genes lethal(2)tumorous imaginal discs [l(2)tid] and lethal(2)neighbour of tid [l(2)not]

Abstract In this study, we describe the isolation of the Drosophila virilis (Dvir) 6201-bp genomic fragment homologous to a 7047-bp genomic region of D. melanogaster (Dmel) that harbors the nested genes lethal(2)tumorous imaginal discs (l(2)tid), lethal(2)neighbour of tid (l(2)not) and lethal(2)relative of tid (l(2)rot). The isolated fragment, which maps at the cytogenetic position 50A5 on chromosome 5, carries the Dvir homologs of the Dmel genes l(2)tid and l(2)not. In both cases, the interspecific comparison of the determined sequences reveals a high homology regarding the protein coding regions and a high degree of evolutionary divergence concerning the intronic parts of the genes. In th…