Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1990 Feb;10(2):539–548. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.2.539

The Adh gene promoters of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila orena are functionally conserved and share features of sequence structure and nuclease-protected sites.

K Moses 1, U Heberlein 1, M Ashburner 1
PMCID: PMC360832  PMID: 2105454

Abstract

The sibling species Drosophila melanogaster and D. orena show similar patterns of alcohol dehydrogenase expression, both spatially and temporally. These two species diverged from a common ancestor 6 million to 15 million years ago, and the DNA sequences of the promoter regions of their Adh genes show a mosaic pattern of conservation and change. By interspecific transformation of D. orena sequences into D. melanogaster, we demonstrate a functional equivalence between these sequences. Using both D. melanogaster embryo extracts and purified transcription factor Adf-1, we compare the protection of these promoter sequences from nuclease, demonstrating considerable conservation.

Full text

PDF
539

Images in this article

541Image
on p.541
541Image
on p.541
546Image
on p.546
547Image
on p.547

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Benyajati C., Ayer S., McKeon J., Ewel A., Huang J. Roles of cis-acting elements and chromatin structure in Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene expression. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Oct 12;15(19):7903–7920. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.19.7903. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Benyajati C., Spoerel N., Haymerle H., Ashburner M. The messenger RNA for alcohol dehydrogenase in Drosophila melanogaster differs in its 5' end in different developmental stages. Cell. 1983 May;33(1):125–133. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90341-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bienz M., Saari G., Tremml G., Müller J., Züst B., Lawrence P. A. Differential regulation of Ultrabithorax in two germ layers of Drosophila. Cell. 1988 May 20;53(4):567–576. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90573-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bodmer M., Ashburner M. Conservation and change in the DNA sequences coding for alcohol dehydrogenase in sibling species of Drosophila. 1984 May 31-Jun 6Nature. 309(5967):425–430. doi: 10.1038/309425a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bray S. J., Hirsh J. The Drosophila virilis dopa decarboxylase gene is developmentally regulated when integrated into Drosophila melanogaster. EMBO J. 1986 Sep;5(9):2305–2311. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04498.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bray S. J., Johnson W. A., Hirsh J., Heberlein U., Tjian R. A cis-acting element and associated binding factor required for CNS expression of the Drosophila melanogaster dopa decarboxylase gene. EMBO J. 1988 Jan;7(1):177–188. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02798.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Burn T. C., Vigoreaux J. O., Tobin S. L. Alternative 5C actin transcripts are localized in different patterns during Drosophila embryogenesis. Dev Biol. 1989 Feb;131(2):345–355. doi: 10.1016/s0012-1606(89)80008-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chia W., Savakis C., Karp R., Pelham H., Ashburner M. Mutation of the Adh gene of Drosophila melanogaster containing an internal tandem duplication. J Mol Biol. 1985 Dec 20;186(4):679–688. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90388-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Cohen R. S., Meselson M. Separate regulatory elements for the heat-inducible and ovarian expression of the Drosophila hsp26 gene. Cell. 1985 Dec;43(3 Pt 2):737–746. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90247-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Corbin V., Maniatis T. Role of transcriptional interference in the Drosophila melanogaster Adh promoter switch. Nature. 1989 Jan 19;337(6204):279–282. doi: 10.1038/337279a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dynan W. S., Tjian R. Control of eukaryotic messenger RNA synthesis by sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins. 1985 Aug 29-Sep 4Nature. 316(6031):774–778. doi: 10.1038/316774a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Fischer J. A., Maniatis T. Drosophila Adh: a promoter element expands the tissue specificity of an enhancer. Cell. 1988 May 6;53(3):451–461. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90165-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Fischer J. A., Maniatis T. Structure and transcription of the Drosophila mulleri alcohol dehydrogenase genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Oct 11;13(19):6899–6917. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.19.6899. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Garabedian M. J., Hung M. C., Wensink P. C. Independent control elements that determine yolk protein gene expression in alternative Drosophila tissues. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Mar;82(5):1396–1400. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.5.1396. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Heberlein U., England B., Tjian R. Characterization of Drosophila transcription factors that activate the tandem promoters of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene. Cell. 1985 Jul;41(3):965–977. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80077-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Heberlein U., Tjian R. Temporal pattern of alcohol dehydrogenase gene transcription reproduced by Drosophila stage-specific embryonic extracts. Nature. 1988 Feb 4;331(6155):410–415. doi: 10.1038/331410a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Henikoff S. Cloning exons of mapping of transcription: characterization of the Drosophila melanogaster alcohol dehydrogenase gene. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Jul 25;11(14):4735–4752. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.14.4735. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Hiromi Y., Kuroiwa A., Gehring W. J. Control elements of the Drosophila segmentation gene fushi tarazu. Cell. 1985 Dec;43(3 Pt 2):603–613. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90232-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Karess R. E., Rubin G. M. Analysis of P transposable element functions in Drosophila. Cell. 1984 Aug;38(1):135–146. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90534-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Kreitman M. Nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Nature. 1983 Aug 4;304(5925):412–417. doi: 10.1038/304412a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lockett T. J., Ashburner M. Temporal and spatial utilization of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene promoters during the development of Drosophila melanogaster. Dev Biol. 1989 Aug;134(2):430–437. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(89)90115-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Maniatis T., Goodbourn S., Fischer J. A. Regulation of inducible and tissue-specific gene expression. Science. 1987 Jun 5;236(4806):1237–1245. doi: 10.1126/science.3296191. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Marsh J. L., Gibbs P. D., Timmons P. M. Developmental control of transduced dopa decarboxylase genes in D. melanogaster. Mol Gen Genet. 1985;198(3):393–403. doi: 10.1007/BF00332929. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. McKnight S., Tjian R. Transcriptional selectivity of viral genes in mammalian cells. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):795–805. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90061-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Mills L. E., Batterham P., Alegre J., Starmer W. T., Sullivan D. T. Molecular genetic characterization of a locus that contains duplicate Adh genes in Drosophila mojavensis and related species. Genetics. 1986 Feb;112(2):295–310. doi: 10.1093/genetics/112.2.295. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Mitsis P. G., Wensink P. C. Identification of yolk protein factor 1, a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein from Drosophila melanogaster. J Biol Chem. 1989 Mar 25;264(9):5188–5194. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Mitsis P. G., Wensink P. C. Purification and properties of yolk protein factor I, a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein from Drosophila melanogaster. J Biol Chem. 1989 Mar 25;264(9):5195–5202. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Posakony J. W., Fischer J. A., Maniatis T. Identification of DNA sequences required for the regulation of Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene expression. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1985;50:515–520. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1985.050.01.063. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Rubin G. M., Spradling A. C. Genetic transformation of Drosophila with transposable element vectors. Science. 1982 Oct 22;218(4570):348–353. doi: 10.1126/science.6289436. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Savakis C., Ashburner M. A simple gene with a complex pattern of transcription: the alcohol dehydrogenase gene of Drosophila melanogaster. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1985;50:505–514. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1985.050.01.062. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Schibler U., Sierra F. Alternative promoters in developmental gene expression. Annu Rev Genet. 1987;21:237–257. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.21.120187.001321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Sofer W., Martin P. F. Analysis of alcohol dehydrogenase gene expression in Drosophila. Annu Rev Genet. 1987;21:203–225. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.21.120187.001223. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Staden R. The current status and portability of our sequence handling software. Nucleic Acids Res. 1986 Jan 10;14(1):217–231. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.1.217. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Steller H., Pirrotta V. A transposable P vector that confers selectable G418 resistance to Drosophila larvae. EMBO J. 1985 Jan;4(1):167–171. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb02332.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES