Drosophila kikkawai ortholog of the D. melanogaster Muller D element ash1.

The Drosophila kikkawai feature with Gene ID 108083276 was determined to be an ortholog of Drosophila melanogaster absent, small, or homeotic discs 1 ( ash1 ). Two isoforms, ash1-PB and ash1-PC, were constructed on the D. kikkawai Muller D element using the GEP annotation protocol. The second coding exon of D. kikkawai ash1 includes an insertion translated into 18 additional amino acids compared to the D. melanogaster protein and is supported by RNA-Seq coverage, the lack of splice junction predictions, and multiple gene predictors. The first intron in both isoforms of D. kikkawaiash1 contains a well conserved non-canonical GC splice site.