scholarly journals Cytotype control of Drosophila melanogaster P element transposition: genomic position determines maternal repression.

Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 785-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Misra ◽  
R M Buratowski ◽  
T Ohkawa ◽  
D C Rio

Abstract P element transposition in Drosophila is controlled by the cytotype regulatory state: in P cytotype, transposition is repressed, whereas in M cytotype, transposition can occur. P cytotype is determined by a combination of maternally inherited factors and chromosomal P elements in the zygote. Transformant strains containing single elements that encoded the 66-kD P element protein zygotically repressed transposition, but did not display the maternal repression characteristic of P cytotype. Upon mobilization to new genomic positions, some of these repressor elements showed significant maternal repression of transposition in genetic assays, involving a true maternal effect. Thus, the genomic position of repressor elements can determine the maternal vs. zygotic inheritance of P cytotype. Immunoblotting experiments indicate that this genomic position effect does not operate solely by controlling the expression level of the 66-kD repressor protein during oogenesis. Likewise, P element derivatives containing the hsp26 maternal regulator sequence expressed high levels of the 66-kD protein during oogenesis, but showed no detectable maternal repression. These data suggest that the location of a repressor element in the genome may determine maternal inheritance of P cytotype by a mechanism involving more than the overall level of expression of the 66-kD protein in the ovary.

Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Lemaitre ◽  
S Ronsseray ◽  
D Coen

Abstract The transposition of P elements in Drosophila melanogaster is regulated by products encoded by the P elements themselves. The P cytotype, which represses transposition and associated phenomena, exhibits both a maternal effect and maternal inheritance. The genetic and molecular mechanisms of this regulation are complex and not yet fully understood. In a previous study, using P-lacZ fusion genes, we have shown that P element regulatory products were able to inhibit the activity of the P promoter in somatic tissues. However, the repression observed did not exhibit the maternal effect characteristic of the P cytotype. With a similar approach, we have assayed in vivo the effect of P element regulatory products in the germline. We show that the P cytotype is able to repress the P promoter in the germline as well as in the soma. Furthermore, this repression exhibits a maternal effect restricted to the germline. On the basis of these new observations, we propose a model for the mechanism of P cytotype repression and its maternal inheritance.


Genetics ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 663-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Simmons ◽  
J D Raymond ◽  
K E Rasmusson ◽  
L M Miller ◽  
C F McLarnon ◽  
...  

Abstract Inbred lines derived from a strain called Sexi were analyzed for their abilities to repress P element-mediated gonadal dysgenesis. One line had high repression ability, four had intermediate ability and two had very low ability. The four intermediate lines also exhibited considerable within-line variation for this trait; furthermore, in at least two cases, this variation could not be attributed to recurring P element movement. Repression of gonadal dysgenesis in the hybrid offspring of all seven lines was due primarily to a maternal effect; there was no evidence for repression arising de novo in the hybrids themselves. In one of the lines, repression ability was inherited maternally, indicating the involvement of cytoplasmic factors. In three other lines, repression ability appeared to be determined by partially dominant or additive chromosomal factors; however, there was also evidence for a maternal effect that reduced the expression of these factors in at least two of the lines. In another line, repression ability seemed to be due to recessive chromosomal factors. All seven lines possessed numerous copies of a particular P element, called KP, which has been hypothesized to produce a polypeptide repressor of gonadal dysgenesis. This hypothesis, however, does not explain why the inbred Sexi lines varied so much in their repression abilities. It is suggested that some of this variation may be due to differences in the chromosomal position of the KP elements, or that other nonautonomous P elements are involved in the repression of hybrid dysgenesis in these lines.


Genome ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 527-540
Author(s):  
Allen McCracken ◽  
John Locke

In Drosophila melanogaster, the mini-w+ transgene in Pci is normally expressed throughout the adult eye; however, when other P or KP elements are present, a variegated-eye phenotype results, indicating random w+ silencing during development called P-element-dependent silencing (PDS). Mutant Su(var)205 and Su(var)3-7 alleles act as haplo-suppressors/triplo-enhancers of this variegated phenotype, indicating that these heterochromatic modifiers act dose dependently in PDS. Previously, we recovered a spontaneous mutation of P{lacW}ciDplac called P{lacW}ciDplacE1 (E1) that variegated in the absence of P elements, presumably due to the insertion of an adjacent gypsy element. From a screen for genetic modifiers of E1 variegation, we describe here the isolation of five mutations in ash1 and three in trx that enhance the E1 variegated phenotype in a dose-dependent and cumulative manner. These mutant alleles enhance PDS at E1, and in E1/P{lacW}ciDplac, but suppress position effect variegation (PEV) at In(1)wm4. This opposite action is consistent with a model where ASH1 and TRX mark transcriptionally active chromatin domains. If ASH1 or TRX function is lost or reduced, heterochromatin can spread into these domains creating a sink that diverts heterochromatic proteins from other variegating locations, which then may express a suppressed phenotype.


Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 1127-1135
Author(s):  
T R Heslip ◽  
R B Hodgetts

Abstract Targeted transposition is the replacement of one P element with another. We are exploiting this unique property of P elements to study the complex regulatory domain of the Dopa decarboxylase (Ddc) gene in Drosophila melanogaster. P element constructs targeted to the same site in the genome will be subjected to the same position effect. This allows the subtle effects typical of most mutations in the Ddc regulatory region to be measured in the absence of the variable influences of position effects which are associated with the current method of germline transformation. We have investigated some of the parameters affecting targeted transposition of a Ddc transposon, P[Ddc], into a P element allele at the vestigial locus. These events were detected by an increased mutant vg phenotype. The location of the donor transposon in cis or in trans to the target had little effect on the frequency of targeting. Likewise, the mobility of different donor elements, as measured by their rate of transposition to a different chromosome, varied nearly 20-fold, while the rate of targeted transposition was very similar between them. All targeted alleles were precise replacements of the target P element by P[Ddc], but in several cases the donor was inserted in the opposite orientation. The targeted alleles could be described as the result of a replicative, conversion-like event.


Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 159 (4) ◽  
pp. 1631-1642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Ronsseray ◽  
Antoine Boivin ◽  
Dominique Anxolabéhère

Abstract In Drosophila, clusters of P transgenes (P-lac-w) display a variegating phenotype for the w marker. In addition, X-ray-induced rearrangements of chromosomes bearing such clusters may lead to enhancement of the variegated phenotype. Since P-lacZ transgenes in subtelomeric heterochromatin have some P-element repression abilities, we tested whether P-lac-w clusters also have the capacity to repress P-element activity in the germline. One cluster (T-1), located on a rearranged chromosome (T2;3) and derived from a line bearing a variegating tandem array of seven P-lac-w elements, partially represses the dysgenic sterility (GD sterility) induced by P elements. This cluster also strongly represses in trans the expression of P-lacZ elements in the germline. This latter suppression shows a maternal effect. Finally, the combination of variegating P-lac-w clusters and a single P-lacZ reporter inserted in subtelomeric heterochromatic sequences at the X chromosome telomere (cytological site 1A) leads to strong repression of dysgenic sterility. These results show that repression of P-induced dysgenic sterility can be elicited in the absence of P elements encoding a polypeptide repressor and that a transgene cluster can repress the expression of a single homologous transgene at a nonallelic position. Implications for models of transposable element silencing are discussed.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 161 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Simmons ◽  
Kevin J Haley ◽  
Craig D Grimes ◽  
John D Raymond ◽  
Jarad B Niemi

Abstract Drosophila were genetically transformed with a hobo transgene that contains a terminally truncated but otherwise complete P element fused to the promoter from the Drosophila hsp70 gene. Insertions of this H(hsp/CP) transgene on either of the major autosomes produced the P transposase in both the male and female germlines, but not in the soma. Heat-shock treatments significantly increased transposase activity in the female germline; in the male germline, these treatments had little effect. The transposase activity of two insertions of the H(hsp/CP) transgene was not significantly greater than their separate activities, and one insertion of this transgene reduced the transposase activity of P(ry+, Δ2-3)99B, a stable P transgene, in the germline as well as in the soma. These observations suggest that, through alternate splicing, the H(hsp/CP) transgene produces a repressor that feeds back negatively to regulate transposase expression or function in both the somatic and germline tissues. The H(hsp/CP) transgenes are able to induce gonadal dysgenesis when the transposase they encode has P-element targets to attack. However, this ability and the ability to induce P-element excisions are repressed by the P cytotype, a chromosomal/cytoplasmic state that regulates P elements in the germline.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 143 (4) ◽  
pp. 1663-1674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Ronsseray ◽  
Monique Lehmann ◽  
Danielle Nouaud ◽  
Dominique Anxolabéhère

Abstract Genetic recombination was used in Drosophila melanogaster to isolate P elements, inserted at the telomeres of X chromosomes (cytological site 1A) from natural populations, in a genetic background devoid of other P elements. We show that complete maternally inherited P repression in the germline (P cytotype) can be elicited by only two autonomous P elements at 1A and that a single element at this site has partial regulatory properties. The analysis of the surrounding chromosomal regions of the P elements at 1A shows that in all cases these elements are flanked by Telomeric Associated Sequences, tandemly repetitive noncoding sequences that have properties of heterochromatin. In addition, we show that the regulatory properties of P elements at 1A can be inhibited by some of the mutant alleles of the Su(var)205 gene and by a deficiency of this gene. However, the regulatory properties of reference P strains (Harwich and Texas 007) are not impaired by Su(var)205 mutations. Su(var)205 encodes Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1). These results suggest that the HP1 dosage effect on the P element properties is sitedependent and could involve the structure of the chromatin.


Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 1063-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Smith ◽  
J Wohlgemuth ◽  
B R Calvi ◽  
I Franklin ◽  
W M Gelbart

Abstract P element enhancer trapping has become an indispensable tool in the analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster genome. However, there is great variation in the mutability of loci by these elements such that some loci are relatively refractory to insertion. We have developed the hobo transposable element for use in enhancer trapping and we describe the results of a hobo enhancer trap screen. In addition, we present evidence that a hobo enhancer trap element has a pattern of insertion into the genome that is different from the distribution of P elements in the available database. Hence, hobo insertion may facilitate access to genes resistant to P element insertion.


1998 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD M. BADGE ◽  
JOHN F. Y. BROOKFIELD

We have discovered, in an inbred line (Loua) of Drosophila melanogaster from Zaïre, a third chromosome showing unusual P element repression. Repression of P element transposition by this chromosome, named Loua3, is dominant zygotic and has three unusual properties. Firstly, its repression of the gonadal dysgenesis caused by a strong P haplotype is strongly temperature-dependent, being most evident at higher rearing temperatures. Secondly, subdivision of Loua3 by recombination abolishes repression: the effect is apparently a function of the intact chromosome. Finally, Loua3 also diminishes somatic lethality when chromosomes carrying many ‘ammunition’ elements (Birmingham2) are exposed to the constitutive transposase source Δ2-3(99B). The chromosome has 17 P elements, none full-length, located in at least 12 dispersed positions.


Genome ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 752-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Sameny ◽  
John Locke

Transposable elements are found in the genomes of all eukaryotes and play a critical role in altering gene expression and genome organization. In Drosophila melanogaster, transposable P elements are responsible for the phenomenon of hybrid dysgenesis. KP elements, a deletion-derivative of the complete P element, can suppress this mutagenic effect. KP elements can also silence the expression of certain other P-element-mediated transgenes in a process called P-element-dependent silencing (PDS), which is thought to involve the recruitment of heterochromatin proteins. To explore the mechanism of this silencing, we have mobilized KP elements to create a series of strains that contain single, well-defined KP insertions that show PDS. To understand the quantitative role of KP elements in PDS, these single inserts were combined in a series of crosses to obtain genotypes with zero, one, or two KP elements, from which we could examine the effect of KP gene dose. The extent of PDS in these genotypes was shown to be dose dependent in a logarithmic rather than linear fashion. A logarithmic dose dependency is consistent with the KP products interacting with heterochromatic proteins in a concentration-dependent manner such that two molecules are needed to induce gene silencing.


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