title: Regulation of Drosophila friend of GATA gene, u-shaped, during hematopoiesis: a direct role for serpent and lozenge.
abstract: Friend of GATA proteins interact with GATA factors to regulate development in a variety of tissues. We analyzed cis- and trans-regulation of the Drosophila gene, u-shaped, to better understand the transcriptional control of this important gene family during hematopoiesis. Using overlapping genomic fragments driving tissue-specific reporter-gene (lacZ) expression, we identified two minimal hematopoietic enhancers within the 7.4 kb region upstream of the transcription start site. One enhancer was active in all classes of hemocytes, whereas the other was active in hemocyte precursors and plasmatocytes only. The GATA factor, Serpent, directly regulated the activity of both enhancers. However, activity in the crystal cell lineage not only required Serpent but also the RUNX homologue, Lozenge. This is the first demonstration of GATA and RUNX direct regulation of Friend of GATA gene expression and provides additional evidence for the combinatorial control of crystal cell lineage commitment by Serpent, Lozenge, and U-shaped. In addition, we analyzed cis-regulation of ush expression in the lymph gland and identified similarities and differences between regulatory strategies used during embryonic and lymph gland hematopoiesis. The results of these studies provide information to analyze further the regulation of this conserved gene family and its role during hematopoietic lineage commitment.
authors.affiliation: Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases and the Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 800 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Selen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muratoglu
authors.forename: Betsy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Garratt
authors.forename: Kristy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hyman
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gajewski
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fossett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D050980:GATA Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C508614:FOG protein, Drosophila; D050980:GATA Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; C099964:lz protein, Drosophila; C103965:srp protein, Drosophila; C109258:ush protein, Drosophila