scholarly journals Hormones and Sex-Specific Transcription Factors Jointly Control Yolk Protein Synthesis in Musca domestica

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Siegenthaler ◽  
Peter Maroy ◽  
Monika Hediger ◽  
Andreas Dübendorfer ◽  
Daniel Bopp
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Musca Domestica ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Yolk Protein ◽  
Yolk Proteins

In the housefly Musca domestica, synthesis of yolk proteins (YPs) depends on the level of circulating ecdysteroid hormones. In female houseflies, the ecdysterone concentration in the hemolymph oscillates and, at high levels, is followed by expression of YP. In male houseflies, the ecdysterone titre is constantly low and no YP is produced. In some strains, which are mutant in key components of the sex-determining pathway, males express YP even though their ecdysterone titre is not significantly elevated. However, we find that these males express a substantial amount of the female variant of the Musca doublesex homologue, Md-dsx. The dsx gene is known to sex-specifically control transcription of yp genes in the fat body of Drosophila melanogaster. Our data suggest that Md-dsx also contributes to the regulation of YP expression in the housefly by modulating the responsiveness of YP-producing cells to hormonal stimuli.

Dietary components modulate yolk protein gene transcription in Drosophila melanogaster

Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bownes ◽  
A. Scott ◽  
A. Shirras
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Gene Transcription ◽  
Protein Gene ◽  
Yolk Protein ◽  
Complete Medium ◽  
General Effect ◽  
Total Recovery ◽  
Insect Hormones

The three yolk proteins of Drosophila melanogaster begin to be synthesized at eclosion. Transcription of the genes is regulated by the genes tra, tra-2 and dsx and also by the insect hormones, juvenile hormone and 20-hydroxyecdysone. We show that there is yet another level of control which is dependent upon feeding. Females that are starved from eclosion show a basal level of yolk protein gene transcription, which is rapidly increased when a complete diet is supplied. We show that the effect is not due to incorrect development of the fat body and is unlikely to be solely due to a general effect on protein synthesis. Later in development, cessation of feeding leads to selective inhibition of yolk protein synthesis and hence egg production. The effects of starvation can be partially overcome by 20-hydroxyecdysone, juvenile hormone, casein, amino acid mix or sucrose, but only a complete medium or live yeast brings about total recovery. Using yp1-Adh fusions (fusions of the promoter region of yp1 to the structural gene for Adh), the DNA sequence required for this diet-enhanced transcription has been located within an 890 bp fragment upstream of the yp1 gene. The insect hormones do not operate on this same DNA fragment.

The use of an inhibitor of protein synthesis to investigate the roles of ecdysteroids and sex-determination genes on the expression of the genes encoding the Drosophila yolk proteins

Development ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 931-941
Author(s):  
M. Bownes ◽  
A. Scott ◽  
M. Blair
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Sex Determination ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Yolk Protein ◽  
Temperature Sensitive ◽  
Restrictive Temperature ◽  
Yolk Protein Genes ◽  
Fat Bodies ◽  
Inhibitor Of Protein Synthesis

The three yolk-protein genes of Drosophila are normally expressed only in adult female fat bodies and ovaries. 20-hydroxyecdysone can affect the transcription of these genes in males and females, as can mutations in the sex-determining genes tra, tra-2, ix and dsx. We have asked a number of basic questions about how these genes are regulated, using an inhibitor of protein synthesis (cycloheximide), labelling RNA in vivo, a temperature-sensitive sex-determination mutant (tra-2ts1), and 20-hydroxyecdysone. We have found that the yolk-protein genes are continuously transcribed in the fat bodies of adult females and that maintenance of this transcription requires protein synthesis. Hormone induction in males is also inhibited by cycloheximide, suggesting that the products of other genes are essential both for 20-hydroxyecdysone to be able to switch on the genes, and for their continuous transcription in the female fat body. The products of the tra-2 gene are also required for continuous transcription of the yolk-protein genes, suggesting that the pathway inhibited by the cycloheximide is that of the sex-determination hierarchy. 20-hydroxyecdysone can override the sex-determination system and induce yolk protein synthesis in normal males and tra-2ts reared and maintained at the restrictive temperature.

scholarly journals Vitellogenesis in virgin and mated females of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor.

1996 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Michalik ◽  
B Chojnicka ◽  
B Cymborowski
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Developmental Stage ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Tenebrio Molitor ◽  
Yolk Protein ◽  
Protein Deposition ◽  
Mealworm Beetle ◽  
Vitellogenic Stage ◽  
Length Width

A comparison between vitellogenesis in virgin and mated females of Tenebrio molitor showed significant differences at each investigated developmental stage. Yolk protein deposition in oocytes, measured as an increase in their size parameters (length, width, and volume), proceeded much faster and was more efficient in mated females as compared to virgins. In fertilized females the gonadotropic cycle showed a cyclicity with an eight-day period while virgin females finish their vitellogenic stage after the first cycle. These differences were reflected in changes in the rate of protein synthesis in the fat body of females completing vitellogenesis or entering the next oogenetic cycle. In the haemolymph, in addition to a large (158 kDa) and two small (56 kDa and 45 kDa) subunits of vitellogenin, there was an abundance of proteins of 80 kDa and 60 kDa.

scholarly journals Sex-specific and non-sex-specific oligomerization domains in both of the doublesex transcription factors from Drosophila melanogaster.

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 3106-3111 ◽  
Author(s):  
W An ◽  
S Cho ◽  
H Ishii ◽  
P C Wensink
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Dna Binding ◽  
Transcriptional Activation ◽  
Yolk Protein ◽  
Female Specific ◽  
Oligomerization Domain

The doublesex gene of Drosophila melanogaster encodes the alternatively spliced, sex-specific transcription factors DSXM and DSXF. These factors regulate male- and female-specific transcription of many genes. For example, female-specific transcription of the yolk protein 1 gene is regulated by DSXM repression in males and DSXF activation in females. In this study we used in vitro interaction assays and the in vivo yeast two-hybrid method to identify and examine oligomerization domains of the DSX proteins. A 66-amino-acid segment common to both proteins (amino acids 39 to 104) contains a sequence-specific DNA binding domain and an oligomerization domain (OD1). The OD1 domain oligomerizes up to at least a pentamer, but only dimers bound to a palindromic regulatory site in the yolk protein 1 gene are detected. Both subunits of the OD1 dimer are in contact with DNA. Another segment of each protein (amino acids 350 to 412 for DSXF and 350 to 427 for DSXM) contains a second oligomerization domain (OD2F and OD2M, respectively). The OD2 domains have both sex-specific and non-sex-specific sequences which are necessary for oligomerization. On the basis of sequence analysis, we predict that OD2 oligomerizes through coiled-coil interactions. We speculate that the common function of OD1 and OD2 is to oligomerize the full-length proteins, whereas their specialized functions are to form a dimeric DNA binding unit and a sex-specific transcriptional activation or repression unit.

Expression of the yolk-protein genes in the mutant doublesex dominant (dsxD) of Drosophila melanogaster

Development ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-257
Author(s):  
Mary Bownes ◽  
Maureen Dempster ◽  
Mairearad Blair
Keyword(s):  
Fat Body ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Yolk Protein ◽  
Heterozygous State ◽  
X Chromosomes ◽  
Yolk Proteins ◽  
Transcript Levels ◽  
Yolk Protein Genes ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Fat Bodies

Adult flies mutant for doublesex dominant (dsxD) are intermediate in phenotype between males and females. The dsxD mutation acts in the heterozygous state to transform only flies with two X chromosomes into intersexes, XY flies are unaffected by the mutation. Yolkprotein synthesis, which normally occurs in the ovaries and fat bodies of females, but not in males unless stimulated with 20-hydroxy-ecdysone, is reduced. The dsxD fat body synthesizes less yolk proteins throughout adult life, and the gonads rarely make yolk proteins. Using cloned yolk-protein genes as probes for measuring transcript levels we have shown that expression of these genes in dsxD is regulated both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally. We suggest that the dsxD locus regulates the expression of the yolk-protein genes from within the fat body cells and does not operate by modulating ecdysteroid titres in the adults.

Ecdysterone induced protein synthesis in salivary glands and in fat body of Drosophila melanogaster larvae

Chromosoma ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Poeting ◽  
W. Koerwer ◽  
O. Pongs
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Salivary Glands ◽  
Fat Body
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