Open AccessThe Adh gene promoters of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila orena are functionally conserved and share features of sequence structure and nuclease-protected sites.
Author(s) -
Kevin Moses,
Ulrike Heberlein,
Michael Ashburner
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
molecular and cellular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.14
H-Index - 327
eISSN - 1067-8824
pISSN - 0270-7306
DOI - 10.1128/mcb.10.2.539
Subject(s) - biology , drosophila melanogaster , melanogaster , genetics , conserved sequence , promoter , gene , drosophilidae , nuclease , peptide sequence , gene expression
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.