Dosage Compensation of the Period Gene in Drosophila Melanogaster |
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| Authors: | M. K. Cooper M. J. Hamblen-Coyle X. Liu J. E. Rutila J. C. Hall |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02254 Current address: Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21287-7609. |
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| Abstract: | The period (per) gene is located on the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Its expression influences biological clocks in this fruit fly, including the one that subserves circadian rhythms of locomotor activity. Like most X-linked genes in Drosophila, per is under the regulatory control of gene dosage compensation. In this study, we assessed the activity of altered or augmented per(+) DNA fragments in transformants. Relative expression levels in male and female adults were inferred from periodicities associated with locomotor behavioral rhythms, and by histochemically assessing β-galactosidase levels in transgenics carrying different kinds of per-lacZ fusion genes. The results suggest that per contains multipartite regulatory information for dosage compensation within the large first intron and also within the 3' half of this genetic locus. |
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