Acetylcholine receptors of the Drosophila brain: a 900 bp promoter fragment contains the essential information for specific expression of the ard gene in vivo.
The ard gene encodes a beta-subunit of Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptors specifically expressed in a subset of neurons. To identify the cis-regulatory region responsible for this cell-specific expression, various 5' fragments of the ard gene were fused to a lacZ reporter gene and introduced into the Drosophila genome. A DNA fragment spanning approximately 760 bp upstream and approximately 140 bp downstream of a cluster of putative transcription start sites produced a pattern of beta-galactosidase activity that resembles the distribution of ARD transcripts. Both in embryos and adults the levels of lacZ RNA were similar to those of endogenous ARD transcripts, suggesting that the 900 bp fragment harbors all essential elements for proper expression of the ard gene.
Hess
N
N
Center for Molecular Neurobiology, University of Hamburg, Germany.
Merz
B
B
Gundelfinger
E D
ED
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000196:embryology; D015870:Gene Expression; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012313:RNA; D001616:beta-Galactosidase