A toolkit for converting Gal4 into LexA and Flippase transgenes in Drosophila

Drosophila has been a powerful model system for biological studies due to the wide range of genetic tools established for it. Among these tools, Gal4 is the most abundant, offering unparalleled tissue- and developmental stage-specificity for gene manipulation. In comparison, other genetic reagents are far fewer in choices. Here we present a genetic toolkit for converting Gal4 strains into LexA and Flippase transgenes through simple genetic crosses and fluorescence screening. We demonstrate the proof-of-principle by converting ten Gal4 lines that exhibit diverse tissue specificities and examined the activity patterns of the converted LexA and Flippase lines. Gal4-to-LexA and Flp conversion is fast and convenient and should greatly expand the choices of LexA and Flp for binary expression and FRT-based mosaic analysis, respectively, in Drosophila.