Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Abt. Molekulare Entwicklungsbiologie, Göttingen, Germany.
We describe a novel Drosophila transcription unit, located in chromosome region 60A. It encodes a zinc finger protein that is expressed in distinct spatial and temporal patterns during embryogenesis. Its initial expression occurs in a stripe at the anterior and the posterior trunk boundary, respectively. The two stripes are activated and spatially controlled by gap-gene activities. The P-element of the enhancer trap line l(2)02970 is inserted in the 5'-region of the transcript and causes a ken and barbie (ken) phenotype, associated with malformation of male genital structures.