Neuronal role of taxi is imperative for flight in Drosophila melanogaster

•Expression of ‘Taxi’, a transcription factor/co-activator, is required in neurons for Drosophila flight function.•Jumper and taxi1 are hypermorphic and hypomorphic alleles of taxi, with an I-element insertion in the 5′-UTR and disparate residues in C-terminus, respectively.•Taxi is a negative regulator of Adar, a protein required for post-transcriptional modifications, including RNA editing and alternative splicing.