FIG. 9.

AaGATAr inhibits basal and 20E-dependent activation of the A. aegypti vitellogenin gene. Luciferase activity is measured in arbitrary units. (A) Luciferase enzyme activity in Drosophila Schneider cells transfected with 100 ng of a reporter gene containing 0.6 kb of the 5′ regulatory region of the Vg gene, which controls the expression of luciferase and pAc5-AaGATAr (500 ng). (B) The Vg gene-luciferase reporter and pAc5-AaGATAr were cotransfected along with the expression vectors pAc5-AaEcR (12.5 ng) and pAc5-AaUSPb (12.5 ng). Cells were treated, where indicated, with 1 μM 20E for 36 h after transfection and incubated at 22°C. The plasmid pAc5-LacZ was used in all assays for transfection efficiency. Transfection was performed in two independent experiments in triplicate. Significant differences (t test) between treated and respective controls are represented by asterisks (∗∗, P ≤ 0.005). Each value represents the mean ± standard deviation.