Figure 3

(a). RT-PCR of mRNA isolated from 3rd instar larvae wild-type (column 1) or mutant ( mof¹) (column 2) at the mof locus using primers specific for five Drosophila melanogaster LTR retrotransposons ( copia, gypsy, 297, 1731, 412 and roo ) and β- tubulin as a control. The results demonstrate uniformly higher levels of LTR retrotransposon expression in larvae carrying the mutant mof¹allele (see Methods for primer sequences). (b). Northern hybridization of mRNA isolated from 3rd instar larvae wild-type (column 1) or mutant ( mof¹) (column 2) at the mof locus using copia [43] and β- tubulin [44] probes. The results are consistent with RT PCR analyses (Figure 3a) and demonstrate higher levels of copia expression in flies carrying the mutant mof¹allele. No significant difference in β-tubulin expression was detected.