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. 1987 Oct 12;15(19):7903–7920. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.19.7903

Roles of cis-acting elements and chromatin structure in Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene expression.

C Benyajati 1, S Ayer 1, J McKeon 1, A Ewel 1, J Huang 1
PMCID: PMC306316  PMID: 3118330

Abstract

The alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene of D. melanogaster is transcribed from two different promoters during fly development: the distal (adult) and the proximal (embryonic-larval). Certain aspects of Adh gene regulation are represented in Drosophila continuous cell lines. We have used Drosophila tissue culture cells in an in vivo transient expression assay to delimit cis-acting sequences affecting Adh expression, and to investigate the role of chromatin structure in Adh gene regulation. These studies show that positive cis-acting elements of the distal promoter can exist in at least 2 alternative chromatin configurations. There is a close correlation between specific transcriptional activity of the Adh distal promoter and a defined, localized chromatin structural change that indicates altered DNA-protein interactions. Thus, chromatin structure appears to play a role in regulating the accessibility of defined positive cis-acting regulatory sequences of Adh to transcription factors and the transcription machinery.

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