title: A cis-regulatory sequence within the yellow locus of Drosophila melanogaster required for normal male mating success.
abstract: Drosophila melanogaster males perform a courtship ritual consisting of a series of dependent fixed-action patterns. The yellow (y) gene is required for normal male courtship behavior and subsequent mating success. To better characterize the requirement for y in the manifestation of innate male sexual behavior, we measured the male mating success (MMS) of 12 hypomorphic y mutants and matched-outbred-background controls using a y+ rescue element on a freely segregating minichromosome. We found that 4 hypomorphs significantly reduced MMS to varying degrees. Reduced MMS was largely independent of adult pigmentation patterns. These mutations defined a 300-bp regulatory region upstream of the transcription start, the mating-success regulatory sequence (MRS), whose function is required for normal MMS. Visualization of gene action via GFP and a Yellow antibody suggests that the MRS directs y transcription in a small number of cells in the third instar CNS, the developmental stage previously implicated in the role of y with regard to male courtship behavior. The presence of Yellow protein in these cells positively correlates with MMS in a subset of mutants. The MRS contains a regulatory sequence controlling larval pigmentation and a 35-bp sequence that is highly conserved within the genus Drosophila and is predicted to bind known transcription factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine 92697, USA. mdd6@nyu.edu
authors.forename: Mark David
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Drapeau
authors.forename: Shawn A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Cyran
authors.forename: Michaela M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Viering
authors.forename: Pamela K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.forename: Anthony D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003380:Courtship; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014157:Transcription Factors; C050680:y protein, Drosophila