Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2009
The glue proteins are products of a developmentally regulated gene family. These genes are transcriptionally active during the third larval instar and code for the major protein products of salivary glands. The activity of several of the genes can be visualized as intermoult puffs in the polytene salivary gland chromosomes. The amount of one of these proteins, P5, varies widely among wild-type strains. We have used biochemical and genetic methods to investigate the source of this variation. The results of in vitro translation of salivary gland RNA suggest that the variation occurs pretranslationally. Genetic mapping experiments showed that sites on several chromosomes can modulate the amount of P5, but that one site on the third chromosome determines the absence and presence of this protein. We have mapped this glue protein gene, called GP5, to the interval between bx (3–58·8) and sr (3–62·0) which also includes the intermoult puff at 90BC. We discuss the relationship between P5 and the glue protein gene Sgs-5 which is also located at 90BC.