Sequence of swallow, a gene required for the localization of bicoid message in Drosophila eggs.

We report the sequence of the Drosophila maternal effect gene swallow, one of the genes whose product is required for the localization of bicoid message during Drosophila oogenesis. The inferred swallow protein contains a domain that is predicted to be an amphipathic alpha-helix similar to those implicated in protein:protein associations in other systems. Another part of the predicted protein appears to be a diverged RNA-binding motif. We discuss these structural features in light of the function of the swallow protein in the bicoid message localization process.