nomadic enhancers tissue-specific cis-regulatory elements of yellow have divergent genomic positions among drosophila species游牧民族增强组织黄色基因工程中的发散果蝇物种之间的基因的位置.pdfVIP

Nomadic Enhancers: Tissue-Specific cis-Regulatory Elements of yellow Have Divergent Genomic Positions among Drosophila Species 1 1,2 Gizem Kalay , Patricia J. Wittkopp * 1 Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America, 2 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America Abstract cis-regulatory DNA sequences known as enhancers control gene expression in space and time. They are central to metazoan development and are often responsible for changes in gene regulation that contribute to phenotypic evolution. Here, we examine the sequence, function, and genomic location of enhancers controlling tissue- and cell-type specific expression of the yellow gene in six Drosophila species. yellow is required for the production of dark pigment, and its expression has evolved largely in concert with divergent pigment patterns. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a transgenic host, we examined the expression of reporter genes in which either 59 intergenic or intronic sequences of yellow from each species controlled the expression of Green Fluorescent Protein. Surprisingly, we found that sequences controlling expression in the wing veins, as well as sequences controlling expression in epidermal cells of the abdomen, thorax, and wing, were located in different genomic regions in different species. By contrast, sequences controlling expression in bristle-associated cells were located in the intron of all species. Differences in the precise pattern of spatial expression within the developing epidermis of D. melanogaster transformants usually correlated with adult pigmentation in the species from which the cis-regulatory sequences were derived, which is