ras Genes in Drosophila melanogaster

The first indication of the presence of Drosophila genes homologous to vertebrate ras genes was presented by Shilo and Weinberg who used a v-Ha-ras DNA probe to detect three bands in genomic Drosophila melanogaster DNA blots. ¹ Later three ras-like genes — Ras1, Ras2, and Ras3, were cloned and characterized. ^{2 - 5} Recently, a rab- and an arf-like gene were also identified and cloned. ^{6 - 37}