Skip to main content
Log in

Molecular organization of the Drosophila melanogaster Pig-1 gene

  • Original Articles
  • Published:
Chromosoma Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Pre-intermoult gene-1 (Pig-1) of Drosophila melanogaster maps on the X chromosome, at polytene bands 3C11–12, and is nested within the 79 kb intron of the dunce gene. Pig-1 has so far been characterized only preliminarily and its function is still unknown. We analysed the molecular organization of the gene by cDNA clone isolation and sequencing as well as S1 mapping and primer extension analyses. The results obtained reveal that the gene is colinear with its genomic sequence and define the usage of both 5′ and 3′ alternative sites for Pig-1 transcription; two continuous open reading frames (ORFs) are fully contained within the Pig-1 transcribed region, although several lines of evidence suggest that only the longer ORF is likely to be translated. We also report that the level of Pig-1 transcript is nearly fourfold reduced in a variant strain carrying a deletion within the Pig-1 upstream sequence, thus identifying a regulatory element required for high level gene expression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashburner M (1975) Puffing patterns in Drosophila. In: Ashburner M, Wright TRF (eds) The genetics and biology of Drosophila, vol 3. Academic Press, London, pp 793–811

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnstiel ML, Busslinger N, Strub K (1985) Transcription termination and 3′ processing: the end is in site! Cell 41: 349–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavener DR (1987) Comparison of the consensus sequence flanking transcriptional start site in Drosophila and vertebrates. Nucleic Acids Res 15: 1353–1361

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen C, Malone T, Beckendorf SK, Davis RL (1987) At least two genes reside within a large intron of the dunce gene of Drosophila. Nature 329: 721–724

    Google Scholar 

  • Chirgwin JJ, Przbyla AE, MacDonald RJ, Rutter WJ (1979) Isolation of biologically active ribonucleic acid from sources enriched in ribonuclease. Biochemistry 18: 5294–5299

    Google Scholar 

  • Furia M, Digilio FA, Artiaco D, Giordano E, Polito LC (1990) A new gene nested within the dunce genetic unit of Drosophila melanogaster. Nucleic Acids Res 18: 5837–5841

    Google Scholar 

  • Gil A, Proudfoot NJ (1987) Position-dependent sequence elements downstream the AAUAAA are required for rabbit β-globin mRNA 3′ end formation. Nature 312: 473–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann A, Korge G (1987) Upstream sequences of dosage-compensated and non-compensated alleles of the larval secretion protein gene Sgs-4 in Drosophila. Chromosoma 96: 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser K, Furia M, Glover DM (1986) Dosage compensation at the Sgs-4 locus of Drosophila melanogaster. J Mol Biol 187: 529–536

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozak M (1984) Compilation and analysis of sequences upstream from the translational start site in eukaryotic mRNAs. Nucleic Acids Res 12: 857–872

    Google Scholar 

  • Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning. A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinnis W, Shermoen AW, Heemskerk J, Beckendorf SK (1983) DNA sequence changes in an upstream DNAase1-hypersensitive region are correlated with reduced gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80: 1063–1067

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyerowitz EM, Raghavan KV, Mathers PH, Roark M (1987) How Drosophila make glue: control of Sgs-3 gene expression. Trend Genetics 3: 288–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Muskavitch MAT, Hogness DS (1980) Molecular analysis of a gene in a developmentally regulated puff of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77: 7362–7366

    Google Scholar 

  • Muskavitch MAT, Hogness DS (1982) An expendable gene that encodes a Drosophila glue protein is not expressed in variant strains lacking remote upstream sequences. Cell 29: 1041–1051

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connell P, Rosbash M (1984) Sequence, structure and codon preference of the Drosophila ribosomal protein 49 gene. Nucleic Acids Res 12: 5495–5513

    Google Scholar 

  • Shermoen AW, Jongens J, Bornett SW, Flynn K, Beckendorf SK (1987) Developmental regulation by an enhancer from the Sgs-4 gene of Drosophila. EMBO J 6: 207–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Staden R (1984) Measurements of the effects that coding a protein has on a DNA sequence and their use for finding genes. Nucleic Acids Res 12: 551–567

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

by F. Amaldi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Furia, M., Digilio, F.A., Artiaco, D. et al. Molecular organization of the Drosophila melanogaster Pig-1 gene. Chromosoma 101, 49–54 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00360686

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00360686

Keywords

Navigation