How does the Drosophila embryo get its pair-rule stripes? How is the evenskipped enhancer build to ensure transcription of even-skipped in stripes? Use the even-skipped stripe 2 enhancer as an example. Describe in general terms the inputs of transcription factors, and how the embryonic expression domains of these factors are generated in the Drosophila embryo. Solution Initially,12 nuclear divisions take place which result in a multinucleate syncitium which is an early drosophilla embryo; formation of pole cells take place followed by cellularization and gastrulation. During gastrulation, extension of germ band takes place driving the posterior trunk regions around the posterior end and the dorsal side, here the first signs of segmentation are seen. At the syncitial blastoderm stage anterior-posterior and dorso-ventral axes get fully established. Maternal factors in the form of mRNAs and proteins specify the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo and the dorso-ventral aspect is governed by the localization of maternal proteins within the envelope of egg vitelline and the positional information. Even skipped acts as a transcriptional repressor of numerous genes.There is a combination of maternal factors, transcription activators, and repressors, which defines each stripe of eve already patterned in the egg either prior to fertilization or prior to cellularization.There are regional specific enhancers which governs the stripe pattern of eve transcription.A stripe-specific enhancer regulate each stripe. As seen in the case of eve stripe 2,in the range of -1.5 and -1.0 kb upstream from the eve start site a minimal stripe 2 enhancer has been identified which assures eve transcription in the second pair rule stripe. Reference 1. Wolpert,L., Tickle, C., & Arias, A,M. (2015).Principles of development. Oxford: Oxford university press. 2. Jiang, P., Ludwig, M. Z., Kreitman, M. and Reinitz, J. (2015). Natural variation of the expression pattern of the segmentation gene even-skipped in melanogaster. Dev Biol [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed ID: 26129990.