The Adh gene promoters of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila orena are functionally conserved and share features of sequence structure and nuclease-protected sites.
The sibling species Drosophila melanogaster and D. orena show similar patterns of alcohol dehydrogenase expression, both spatially and temporally. These two species diverged from a common ancestor 6 million to 15 million years ago, and the DNA sequences of the promoter regions of their Adh genes show a mosaic pattern of conservation and change. By interspecific transformation of D. orena sequences into D. melanogaster, we demonstrate a functional equivalence between these sequences. Using both D. melanogaster embryo extracts and purified transcription factor Adf-1, we compare the protection of these promoter sequences from nuclease, demonstrating considerable conservation.
Moses
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K
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Laboratories, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
Heberlein
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Ashburner
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D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D007814:Larva; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I