Skip to main content
PMC home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1985 Jul 25;13(14):5283–5295. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.14.5283

The C. elegans vitellogenin genes: short sequence repeats in the promoter regions and homology to the vertebrate genes.

J Spieth, K Denison, S Kirtland, J Cane, T Blumenthal
PMCID: PMC321865  PMID: 4022780

Abstract

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans contains a small family of vitellogenin genes which is expressed abundantly, but only in the intestine of the adult hermaphrodite worm. In order to identify possible regulatory elements, we have sequenced the DNA surrounding the 5' ends of five of the six genes. Contained within regions which have largely diverged from one another, two different heptameric sequences are found repeated within the first 200 bp upstream of each of the genes. The first sequence, TGTCAAT, is present as a perfect heptamer at least once upstream of each gene. It is repeated in both orientations four to six times in each 5' flanking region, allowing a one-base mismatch. The second sequence, CTGATAA, is also present as a perfect heptamer in a restricted region upstream of each gene. These two sequence elements may be involved in regulation of the vitellogenin genes. Remarkably, the CTGATAA sequence is present in a similar location in the promoter regions of vertebrate vitellogenin genes. In fact, our data reveal a surprising degree of similarity between the nematode and vertebrate vitellogenins.

Full text

PDF
5283

Selected References

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

  1. Benoist C., O'Hare K., Breathnach R., Chambon P. The ovalbumin gene-sequence of putative control regions. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Jan 11;8(1):127–142. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.1.127. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Blumenthal T., Squire M., Kirtland S., Cane J., Donegan M., Spieth J., Sharrock W. Cloning of a yolk protein gene family from Caenorhabditis elegans. J Mol Biol. 1984 Mar 25;174(1):1–18. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(84)90361-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Boss J. M., Darrow M. D., Zitomer R. S. Characterization of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c mRNA. J Biol Chem. 1980 Sep 25;255(18):8623–8628. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Burch J. B. Identification and sequence analysis of the 5' end of the major chicken vitellogenin gene. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 25;12(2):1117–1135. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.2.1117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Carter A. D., Felber B. K., Walling M. J., Jubier M. F., Schmidt C. J., Hamer D. H. Duplicated heavy metal control sequences of the mouse metallothionein-I gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(23):7392–7396. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.23.7392. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Files J. G., Carr S., Hirsh D. Actin gene family of Caenorhabditis elegans. J Mol Biol. 1983 Mar 5;164(3):355–375. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(83)90056-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Geiser M., Mattaj I. W., Wilks A. F., Seldran M., Jost J. P. Structure and sequence of the promoter area and of a 5' upstream demethylation site of the estrogen-regulated chicken vitellogenin ii gene. J Biol Chem. 1983 Jul 25;258(14):9024–9030. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Germond J. E., Walker P., ten Heggeler B., Brown-Luedi M., de Bony E., Wahli W. Evolution of vitellogenin genes: comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences downstream of the transcription initiation site of four Xenopus laevis and one chicken gene. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Nov 26;12(22):8595–8609. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.22.8595. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hearing P., Shenk T. The adenovirus type 5 E1A transcriptional control region contains a duplicated enhancer element. Cell. 1983 Jul;33(3):695–703. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90012-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hinnebusch A. G., Fink G. R. Repeated DNA sequences upstream from HIS1 also occur at several other co-regulated genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Biol Chem. 1983 Apr 25;258(8):5238–5247. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hovemann B., Galler R. Vitellogenin in Drosophila melanogaster: a comparison of the YPI and YPII genes and their transcription products. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Apr 10;10(7):2261–2274. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.7.2261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hung M. C., Wensink P. C. Sequence and structure conservation in yolk proteins and their genes. J Mol Biol. 1983 Mar 15;164(4):481–492. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(83)90046-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hung M. C., Wensink P. C. The sequence of the Drosophila melanogaster gene for yolk protein 1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Dec 11;9(23):6407–6419. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.23.6407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Karn J., Brenner S., Barnett L. Protein structural domains in the Caenorhabditis elegans unc-54 myosin heavy chain gene are not separated by introns. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(14):4253–4257. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.14.4253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kimble J., Sharrock W. J. Tissue-specific synthesis of yolk proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol. 1983 Mar;96(1):189–196. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(83)90322-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Klass M. R., Kinsley S., Lopez L. C. Isolation and characterization of a sperm-specific gene family in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Mar;4(3):529–537. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.3.529. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Klass M. R., Wolf N., Hirsh D. Further characterization of a temperature-sensitive transformation mutant in Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol. 1979 Mar;69(1):329–335. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(79)90295-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kozak M. Compilation and analysis of sequences upstream from the translational start site in eukaryotic mRNAs. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 25;12(2):857–872. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.2.857. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Parslow T. G., Blair D. L., Murphy W. J., Granner D. K. Structure of the 5' ends of immunoglobulin genes: a novel conserved sequence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 May;81(9):2650–2654. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.9.2650. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Pelham H. R. A regulatory upstream promoter element in the Drosophila hsp 70 heat-shock gene. Cell. 1982 Sep;30(2):517–528. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90249-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rosenberg M., Court D. Regulatory sequences involved in the promotion and termination of RNA transcription. Annu Rev Genet. 1979;13:319–353. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.13.120179.001535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sharrock W. J. Cleavage of two yolk proteins from a precursor in Caenorhabditis elegans. J Mol Biol. 1984 Apr 15;174(3):419–431. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(84)90329-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sharrock W. J. Yolk proteins of Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol. 1983 Mar;96(1):182–188. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(83)90321-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Stuart G. W., Searle P. F., Chen H. Y., Brinster R. L., Palmiter R. D. A 12-base-pair DNA motif that is repeated several times in metallothionein gene promoters confers metal regulation to a heterologous gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(23):7318–7322. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.23.7318. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Walker P., Brown-Luedi M., Germond J. E., Wahli W., Meijlink F. C., van het Schip A. D., Roelink H., Gruber M., Ab G. Sequence homologies within the 5' end region of the estrogen-controlled vitellogenin gene in Xenopus and chicken. EMBO J. 1983;2(12):2271–2279. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1983.tb01734.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Walker P., Germond J. E., Brown-Luedi M., Givel F., Wahli W. Sequence homologies in the region preceding the transcription initiation site of the liver estrogen-responsive vitellogenin and apo-VLDLII genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Nov 26;12(22):8611–8626. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.22.8611. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. von Heijne G. Patterns of amino acids near signal-sequence cleavage sites. Eur J Biochem. 1983 Jun 1;133(1):17–21. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1983.tb07424.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES