Developmental analysis of Drosophila position-specific antigens.

The distributions of three position-specific (PS) antigens have been examined in different Drosophila tissues and at various developmental times, using both immunofluorescence and affinity purification procedures. In the imaginal discs the PS antigens show nonuniform and nonhomologous distributions, and the expression of the antigens in a particular disc region can vary during development. In general, PS antigen expression appears to correlate with morphogenetic events in the disc epithelia, suggesting that the antigens are involved in cell-cell recognition and/or adhesion processes. PS antigens are also found in many other tissues, and in embryos as early as the cellular blastoderm stage. Affinity-purified PS antigens from different tissues or stages appear to be similar, as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results are discussed in relation to Drosophila developmental events, with particular regard to the dorsoventral cell lineage restriction in the wing disc.