The True lab studies the developmental and evolutionary genetic basis of melanin patterning and behavioral diversity among Drosophila species. This work involves developing molecular markers for genotyping intra- and interspecific crosses and performing Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR (QRT-PCR) to assay expression of melanin patterning genes in different mutants and strains. We are using the ABI DNA sequence analyzer for marker development and the Stratagene MX3000P for QRT-PCR. In the near future we will also be performing microsatellite genotyping of Southeastern U.S. and Bahamas Drosophila melanogaster populations using the ABI sequence analyzer. This latter project is aimed at understanding the roles of climatic and historical processes and dispersal in genetic, behavioral, and morphological diversification among island populations.