title: Direct activation of Sex-lethal transcription by the Drosophila runt protein.
abstract: Runt functions as a transcriptional regulator in multiple developmental pathways in Drosophila melanogaster. Recent evidence indicates that Runt represses the transcription of several downstream target genes in the segmentation pathway. Here we demonstrate that runt also functions to activate transcription. The initial expression of the female-specific sex-determining gene Sex-lethal in the blastoderm embryo requires runt activity. Consistent with a role as a direct activator, Runt shows sequence-specific binding to multiple sites in the Sex-lethal early promoter. Using an in vivo transient assay, we demonstrate that Runt's DNA-binding activity is essential for Sex-lethal activation in vivo. These experiments further reveal that increasing the dosage of runt alone is sufficient for triggering the transcriptional activation of Sex-lethal in males. In addition, a Runt fusion protein, containing a heterologous transcriptional activation domain activates Sex-lethal expression, indicating that this regulation is direct and not via repression of other repressors. Moreover, we demonstrate that a small segment of the Sex-lethal early promoter that contains Runt-binding sites mediates Runt-dependent transcriptional activation in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and The Institute for Cell and Developmental Biology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5215, USA.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Jinks
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schedl
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gergen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D018628:Gene Dosage; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C067777:Sxl protein, Drosophila; D014157:Transcription Factors; C080833:run protein, Drosophila