ISSN:
1432-1432
Keywords:
Drosophila
;
Glucose repression
;
Amylase gene
;
Interspecific promoter function
;
Conserved cis-acting elements
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary Previous studies have demonstrated that the expression of the α-amylase gene is repressed by dietary glucose in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we show that the α-amylase gene of a distantly related species, D. virilis, is also subject to glucose repression. Moreover, the cloned amylase gene of D. virilis is shown to be glucose repressible when it is transiently expressed in D. melanogaster larvae. This cross-species, functional conservation is mediated by a 330-bp promoter region of the D. virilis amylase gene. These results indicate that the promoter elements required for glucose repression are conserved between distantly related Drosophila species. A sequence comparison between the amylase genes of D. virilis and D. melanogaster shows that the promoter sequences diverge to a much greater degree than the coding sequences. The amylase promoters of the two species do, however, share small clusters of sequence similarity, suggesting that these conserved cis-acting elements are sufficient to control the glucose-regulated expression of the amylase gene in the genus Drosophila.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00160478
