A GAL4-Driver Line Resource for Drosophila Neurobiology

• Main Authors: Arnim Jenett, Gerald M. Rubin, Teri-T.B. Ngo, David Shepherd, Christine Murphy, Heather Dionne, Barret D. Pfeiffer, Amanda Cavallaro, Donald Hall, Jennifer Jeter, Nirmala Iyer, Dona Fetter, Joanna H. Hausenfluck, Hanchuan Peng, Eric T. Trautman, Robert R. Svirskas, Eugene W. Myers, Zbigniew R. Iwinski, Yoshinori Aso, Gina M. DePasquale, Adrianne Enos, Phuson Hulamm, Shing Chun Benny Lam, Hsing-Hsi Li, Todd R. Laverty, Fuhui Long, Lei Qu, Sean D. Murphy, Konrad Rokicki, Todd Safford, Kshiti Shaw, Julie H. Simpson, Allison Sowell, Susana Tae, Yang Yu, Christopher T. Zugates
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012-10-01
• Series: Cell Reports
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124712002926

We established a collection of 7,000 transgenic lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Expression of GAL4 in each line is controlled by a different, defined fragment of genomic DNA that serves as a transcriptional enhancer. We used confocal microscopy of dissected nervous systems to determine the expression patterns driven by each fragment in the adult brain and ventral nerve cord. We present image data on 6,650 lines. Using both manual and machine-assisted annotation, we describe the expression patterns in the most useful lines. We illustrate the utility of these data for identifying novel neuronal cell types, revealing brain asymmetry, and describing the nature and extent of neuronal shape stereotypy. The GAL4 lines allow expression of exogenous genes in distinct, small subsets of the adult nervous system. The set of DNA fragments, each driving a documented expression pattern, will facilitate the generation of additional constructs for manipulating neuronal function.