Abstract
The product of the Drosophila segmentation gene Kruppel was produced in cultured insect cells using the baculovirus expression system. When a cloned Kruppel cDNA sequence was inserted into the viral genome downstream from the promoter of the polyhedrin gene, a polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of .apprxeq. 72,000 was observed in the nuclei of infected cells. Antibodies were raised against this protein and used to detect Kruppel in Drosophila embryos. Characterization of the Kruppel protein extracted from infected cells showed that it is tightly bound to the nucleus, it binds to calf thymus DNA-cellulose, and it is phosphorylated. These results support the hypothesis that Kruppel is a regulatory protein that acts by binding DNA.