# GENETIC ANALYSIS OF POLARITY

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIV OF N.J. · 1994 · $211,673

## Abstract

A critical step in pattern formation in Drosophila is the
establishment of polarity along the two major body axes.  At least 20
maternally active genes are involved in creating dorsal-ventral polarity.
A variety of experiments have shown that dorsal represents the last step
in the process, it acts as the ventral morphogen relating the maternal
positional information to the zygotic genome.  We have cloned and
characterized the dorsal gene and found it is closely related to the
vertebrate proto-oncogene c-rel.  In wild-type embryos, the dorsal
protein is present in the cytoplasm during cleavage.  After the nuclei
migrate to the periphery of the embryo, a ventral-to-dorsal gradient of
nuclear dorsal protein is established.  The formation of the nuclear
gradient is disrupted in mutant embryos from other maternally active
dorsal-ventral polarity genes.  In dorsalized mutant embryos, only
cytoplasmic protein is observed, while in ventralized embryos, the
nuclear gradient is shifted dorsally.  Relocalization of the dorsal
protein from the cytoplasm to the nucleus appears critical for dorsal to
function as a morphogen.

          We propose a number of experiments that address the two basic
questions of (1) how is the nuclear gradient formed and what factors are
involved, and (2) how does dorsal exert its function as a morphogen.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2197563
- **Project number:** 7R01HD018055-10
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIV OF N.J.
- **SAM.gov UEI:** M1LVPE5GLSD9
- **Principal Investigator:** Ruth M STEWARD
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $211,673
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 1983-08-01 → 1996-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2197563

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2197563, GENETIC ANALYSIS OF POLARITY (7R01HD018055-10). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2197563. Licensed CC0.

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