Skip to main content
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1989 Apr;121(4):787–794. doi: 10.1093/genetics/121.4.787

Insertion of a Copia Element 5' to the Drosophila Melanogaster Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene (Adh) Is Associated with Altered Developmental and Tissue-Specific Patterns of Expression

D J Strand 1, J F McDonald 1
PMCID: PMC1203661  PMID: 2470641

Abstract

The Drosophila melanogaster alcohol dehydrogenase gene (adh) is under the control of two separate promoters (proximal and distal) which are preferentially utilized at the larval and adult life stages, respectively. A variant alcohol dehydrogenase allele (RI-42) isolated from a natural population contains a copia retroviral-like transposable element inserted 240 bp upstream from the distal (adult) adh transcriptional start site. Levels of adh transcripts in the RI-42 variant are reduced in tissues and at life stages where copia is actively expressed and are affected in trans- by mutant alleles at the suppressor-of-white-apricot (su(w(a))) and suppressor-of-forked (su(f)) loci. These suppressor genes have no effect on adh expression in wild-type Drosophila.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (4.6 MB).

Selected References

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

  1. Anderson S. M., McDonald J. F. Biochemical and molecular analysis of naturally occurring Adh variants in Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Aug;80(15):4798–4802. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.15.4798. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aquadro C. F., Desse S. F., Bland M. M., Langley C. H., Laurie-Ahlberg C. C. Molecular population genetics of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene region of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1986 Dec;114(4):1165–1190. doi: 10.1093/genetics/114.4.1165. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bialojan S., Falkenburg D., Renkawitz-Pohl R. Characterization and developmental expression of beta tubulin genes in Drosophila melanogaster. EMBO J. 1984 Nov;3(11):2543–2548. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb02170.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bingham P. M., Levis R., Rubin G. M. Cloning of DNA sequences from the white locus of D. melanogaster by a novel and general method. Cell. 1981 Sep;25(3):693–704. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90176-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Boeke J. D., Garfinkel D. J., Styles C. A., Fink G. R. Ty elements transpose through an RNA intermediate. Cell. 1985 Mar;40(3):491–500. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90197-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chang D. Y., Wisely B., Huang S. M., Voelker R. A. Molecular cloning of suppressor of sable, a Drosophila melanogaster transposon-mediated suppressor. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 May;6(5):1520–1528. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.5.1520. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Feinberg A. P., Vogelstein B. A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal Biochem. 1983 Jul 1;132(1):6–13. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(83)90418-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Goldberg D. A. Isolation and partial characterization of the Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Oct;77(10):5794–5798. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.10.5794. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lawrence J. B., Singer R. H. Quantitative analysis of in situ hybridization methods for the detection of actin gene expression. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Mar 11;13(5):1777–1799. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.5.1777. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Marlor R. L., Parkhurst S. M., Corces V. G. The Drosophila melanogaster gypsy transposable element encodes putative gene products homologous to retroviral proteins. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Apr;6(4):1129–1134. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.4.1129. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McDonald J. F., Anderson S. M., Santos M. Biochemical differences between products of the Adh locus in Drosophila. Genetics. 1980 Aug;95(4):1013–1022. doi: 10.1093/genetics/95.4.1013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Modolell J., Bender W., Meselson M. Drosophila melanogaster mutations suppressible by the suppressor of Hairy-wing are insertions of a 7.3-kilobase mobile element. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Mar;80(6):1678–1682. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.6.1678. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mount S. M., Green M. M., Rubin G. M. Partial revertants of the transposable element-associated suppressible allele white-apricot in Drosophila melanogaster: structures and responsiveness to genetic modifiers. Genetics. 1988 Feb;118(2):221–234. doi: 10.1093/genetics/118.2.221. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. O'Hare K., Murphy C., Levis R., Rubin G. M. DNA sequence of the white locus of Drosophila melanogaster. J Mol Biol. 1984 Dec 15;180(3):437–455. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(84)90021-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Parkhurst S. M., Corces V. G. Forked, gypsys, and suppressors in Drosophila. Cell. 1985 Jun;41(2):429–437. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80016-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. 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]
  17. Rubin G. M., Brorein W. J., Jr, Dunsmuir P., Flavell A. J., Levis R., Strobel E., Toole J. J., Young E. Copia-like transposable elements in the Drosophila genome. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1981;45(Pt 2):619–628. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1981.045.01.080. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. 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]
  19. Shiba T., Saigo K. Retrovirus-like particles containing RNA homologous to the transposable element copia in Drosophila melanogaster. Nature. 1983 Mar 10;302(5904):119–124. doi: 10.1038/302119a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Shivers B. D., Schachter B. S., Pfaff D. W. In situ hybridization for the study of gene expression in the brain. Methods Enzymol. 1986;124:497–510. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(86)24036-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Thomas P. S. Hybridization of denatured RNA and small DNA fragments transferred to nitrocellulose. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Sep;77(9):5201–5205. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.9.5201. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES