Negative regulation of P element excision by the somatic product and terminal sequences of P in Drosophila melanogaster.
A transient in vivo P element excision assay was used to test the regulatory properties of putative repressor-encoding plasmids in Drosophila melanogaster embryos. The somatic expression of an unmodified transposase transcription unit under the control of a heat shock gene promoter (phs pi) effectively repressed P excision in a dose-dependent manner at very low concentrations relative to somatically active transposase (encoded by the hs pi delta 2-3 gene). Maximum repression required transcription of the complete transposase gene. Dose-dependent repression of P excision was also observed in the presence of a vector plasmid (pCarnegie4) having only the terminal sequences, including transposase binding sites, of the P element. However, repression required considerably higher concentrations of pCarnegie4 than phs pi, and elimination of P excision was not observed.
Handler
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AM
Insect Attractants, Behavior and Basic Biology Research Laboratory Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gainesville, Florida 32608.
Gomez
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SP
O'Brochta
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DA
D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002875:Chromosomes; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D019895:Transposases
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases; D019895:Transposases