Investigating HOX Protein Requirement for Tarsus Determination in Drosophila melanogaster

Generally, all bilaterans examined have similar conservation of HOX protein structure, function, expression, and requirement. However, at the level of being the same, it is unknown whether the HOX protein, Antennapedia, is required for tarsus determination in Drosophila melanogaster as in Tribolium casteneum, or whether the requirement of HOX proteins in determination of body parts diverges in insects. I proposed to use a heat shock-inducible nanobody (UAS- NSlmb-vhhGFP4 driven by hsp-GAL4) activated during the third larval stage in all cells to degrade thoracically expressed HOX proteins (Sex combs reduced, Antennapedia, and Ultrabithorax) tagged with green fluorescence protein (GFP) derivatives; GFP, YFP, CFP, or 17 amino acid epitope of GFP. Due to difficulties in establishing CRISPR mediated homologous recombination, only the initial steps have been completed, but the system is now established to determine whether HOX requirement for tarsus determination is conserved in insects