Organisation and expression of a cluster of yolk protein genes in the Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina |
| |
Authors: | Maxwell J Scott Asela Atapattu Anja H Schiemann Carolina Concha Rebecca Henry Brandi-lee Carey Esther J Belikoff Jörg C Heinrich Abhimanyu Sarkar |
| |
Institution: | (1) Present address: Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7614, North Carolina, U.S.A;(2) Present address: LBCMCP-CNRS UMR 5088, Batiment 4R3b1, Universite Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 09, France;(3) Present address: Grasslands Research Centre, AgResearch Limited, Private Bag 11008, Palmerston North, New Zealand;(4) Centre for Functional Genomics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, New Zealand |
| |
Abstract: | The Australian sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina is a major pest for the Australian and New Zealand sheep industries. With the long-term aim of making a strain of L. cuprina suitable for a genetic control program, we previously developed a tetracycline-repressible female lethal genetic system in
Drosophila. A key part of this system is a female-specific promoter from a yolk protein (yp) gene controlling expression of the tetracycline-dependent transactivator (tTA). Here we report the sequence of a 14.2 kb
genomic clone from L. cuprina that contains a cluster of three complete yp genes and one partial yp gene. The Lcyp genes are specifically expressed in females that have received a protein meal. A bioinformatic analysis of the promoter of
one of the yp genes (LcypA) identified several putative binding sites for DSX, a known regulator of yp gene expression in other Diptera. A transgenic strain of L. cuprina was made that contained the LcypA promoter driving the expression of the Escherichia coli lacZ reporter gene. Transgenic females express high levels of β-galactosidase after a protein meal. Thus the LcypA promoter could be used to obtain female-specific expression of tTA in transgenic L. cuprina. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|