Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 177, Issue 2, 1 August 1996, Pages 536-543
Developmental Biology

Regular Article
Developmental- and Eye-Specific Transcriptional Control Elements in an Intronic Region of a Ca2+-Activated K+Channel Gene

https://doi.org/10.1006/dbio.1996.0183Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

The range of electrical properties that a neuron or muscle cell can manifest is determined by which ion channel genes it expresses and in what amounts. TheDrosophila slowpokeCa2+-activated K+channel gene has four distinct promoters. Here we assess the role that a downstream intronic region, called the C2/C3 region, plays in modulating Promoter C1 and Promoter C2 activity. Promoter C1 and Promoter C2 appear to be responsible for all neuronal and muscle expression, respectively. Transgenic flies were used to determine the expression pattern from each promoter in the presence and absence of the C2/C3 region. Deletion of this region silences Promoter C1 in adult but not larval CNS and causes a substantial reduction in Promoter C2 activity in adult but not larval muscle. The C2/C3 region also activates Promoter C1 in the animal's eye. By placing the C2/C3 region adjacent to a basal HSP70 promoter we have demonstrated that it contains elements that can specifically activate a heterologous promoter in the eye and in adult but not larval muscle. These results demonstrate that the C2/C3 region has a important role in regulatingslowpokedevelopmental expression in the CNS and musculature and in regulating eye expression.

Cited by (0)