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FlyBase (flybase.org) is the primary online database of genetic, genomic, and functional information about Drosophila species, with a major focus on the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. The long and rich history of Drosophila research, combined with recent surges in genomic-scale and high-throughput technologies, mean that FlyBase now houses a huge quantity of data. Researchers need to be able to rapidly and intuitively query these data, and the QuickSearch tool has been designed to meet these needs. This tool is conveniently located on the FlyBase homepage and is organized into a series of simple tabbed interfaces that cover the major data and annotation classes within the database. This unit describes the functionality of all aspects of the QuickSearch tool. With this knowledge, FlyBase users will be equipped to take full advantage of all QuickSearch features and thereby gain improved access to data relevant to their research. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Abdominal-B (Abd-B) gene of Drosophila controls the specification of segment identities in the posterior abdomen. We describe here the spatial and temporal distribution of Abd-B transcripts. At least five RNA species are detected on Northern blots with probes within the region of the Abd-B homeobox. We have identified probes specific for subsets of these transcripts and have used these probes to study the distribution of each subset by in situ hybridization to embryonic tissue sections. The transcripts can be divided into two groups: one group is expressed maximally in parasegment (PS)13 and extends anteriorly to PS10; the other is expressed only in PS14 and 15. These two different patterns of expression correspond to the anatomical domains defined by two classes of mutations in Abd-B. These results help explain the complex genetic interactions and phenotypes of mutations within this gene.

The Drosophila melanogaster 68C chromosomal locus is the site of a prominent polytene chromosome puff that harbors the genes Sgs-3, Sgs-7 and Sgs-8. These genes code for proteins that are part of the salivary glue that Drosophila larvae secrete as a means of fixing themselves to an external substrate for the duration of the pre-pupal and pupal period. The 68C glue genes are regulated by the steroid hormone ecdysterone, with the hormone required for both initiation and cessation of gene expression during the third larval instar. Previous work has defined sequences sufficient for expression of abundant levels of Sgs-3 mRNA at the correct time and in the correct tissue. We show here that sequences sufficient for normal tissue- and stage-specific accumulation of Sgs-3 RNA, but adequate only for low levels of expression, lie within 130 bp of the 5' end of the gene, or within the gene.