PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - X Liu
AU  - LJ Zwiebel
AU  - D Hinton
AU  - S Benzer
AU  - JC Hall
AU  - M Rosbash
TI  - The period gene encodes a predominantly nuclear protein in adult Drosophila
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.12-07-02735.1992
DP  - 1992 Jul 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 2735--2744
VI  - 12
IP  - 7
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/12/7/2735.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/12/7/2735.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1992 Jul 01; 12
AB  - The period gene of Drosophila melanogaster (per) is important for the generation and maintenance of biological rhythms. Previous light microscopic observations indicated that per is expressed in a variety of tissues and cell types and suggested that the per protein (PER) may be present in different subcellular compartments. To understand how PER influences circadian rhythms, it is important to define its subcellular location, especially in adult flies where inducible promoter experiments suggested that it is most relevant to circadian locomotor activity rhythms. To this end, we report the results of an immunoelectron microscopic analysis of wild-type flies and per-beta- galactosidase (beta-gal) fusion gene transgenics using a polyclonal anti-PER antibody or an anti-beta-gal antibody, respectively. Most of the PER antigen and the fusion gene product were located within nuclei, suggesting that PER acts in that subcellular compartment to affect circadian rhythms. The results are discussed in terms of per's possible biochemical functions.