A database of Drosophila nomenclature

18-wheeler was cloned serendipitously. A cDNA was recovered in a screen for full length couch potato cDNAs. In situ hybridization revealed an expression pattern unlike that of cpo. Instead the 18 stripes at germ band extension -- 15 in the germ band and 3 more in the head suggested the name to Hugo Bellen, in whose lab this work was done. Sequencing revealed a similarity to Toll. Among the 9 Toll - like genes that have been found in the Drosophila genome, 18w would be Toll-2.

Eldon, E., S. Kooyer, D. D'Evelyn, M. Duman, P. Lawinger, J. Botas, and H. Bellen. 1994. The Drosophila 18-wheeler gene is required for morphogenesis and has striking similarities to Toll. Development 120: 885-899.

Elizabeth Eldon
eeldon@csulb.edu