This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Samuels, M E
Right arrow Articles by Cline, T W
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Samuels, M E
Right arrow Articles by Cline, T W

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Mol Cell Biol. 1991 July; 11(7): 3584-3602

The complex set of late transcripts from the Drosophila sex determination gene sex-lethal encodes multiple related polypeptides.

M E Samuels, P Schedl and T W Cline

Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544.

ABSTRACT

Sex-lethal (Sxl), a key sex determination gene in Drosophila melanogaster, is known to express a set of three early transcripts arising during early embryogenesis and a set of seven late transcripts occurring from midembryogenesis through adulthood. Among the late transcripts, male-specific mRNAs were distinguished from their female counterparts by the presence of an extra exon interrupting an otherwise long open reading frame (ORF). We have now analyzed the structures of the late Sxl transcripts by cDNA sequencing, Northern (RNA) blotting, primer extension, and RNase protection. The late transcripts appear to use a common 5' end but differ at their 3' ends by the use of alternative polyadenylation sites. Two of these sites lack canonical AATAAA sequences, and their use correlates in females with the presence of a functional germ line, suggesting possible tissue-specific polyadenylation. Besides the presence of the male-specific exon, no additional sex-specific splicing events were detected, although a number of non-sex-specific splicing variants were observed. In females, the various forms of late Sxl transcript potentially encode up to six slightly different polypeptides. All of the protein-coding differences occur outside the previously defined ribonucleoprotein motifs. One class of Sxl mRNAs also includes a second long ORF in the same frame as the first ORF but separated from it by a single ochre codon. The function of this second ORF is unknown. Significant amounts of apparently partially processed Sxl RNAs were observed, consistent with the hypothesis that the regulated Sxl splices occur relatively slowly.

Mol Cell Biol. 1991 July; 11(7): 3584-3602




This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Gonzalez, A. N., Lu, H., Erickson, J. W. (2008). A shared enhancer controls a temporal switch between promoters during Drosophila primary sex determination. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 18436-18441 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yokoyama, R., Pannuti, A., Ling, H., Smith, E. R., Lucchesi, J. C. (2007). A Plasmid Model System Shows that Drosophila Dosage Compensation Depends on the Global Acetylation of Histone H4 at Lysine 16 and Is Not Affected by Depletion of Common Transcription Elongation Chromatin Marks. Mol. Cell. Biol. 27: 7865-7870 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Horabin, J. I. (2005). Splitting the Hedgehog signal: sex and patterning in Drosophila. Development 132: 4801-4810 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Shanower, G. A., Muller, M., Blanton, J. L., Honti, V., Gyurkovics, H., Schedl, P. (2005). Characterization of the grappa Gene, the Drosophila Histone H3 Lysine 79 Methyltransferase. Genetics 169: 173-184 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Louis, M., Holm, L., Sanchez, L., Kaufman, M. (2003). A Theoretical Model for the Regulation of Sex-lethal, a Gene That Controls Sex Determination and Dosage Compensation in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 165: 1355-1384 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Penalva, L. O. F., Sanchez, L. (2003). RNA Binding Protein Sex-Lethal (Sxl) and Control of Drosophila Sex Determination and Dosage Compensation. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 67: 343-359 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nagengast, A. A., Stitzinger, S. M., Tseng, C.-H., Mount, S. M., Salz, H. K. (2003). Sex-lethal splicing autoregulation in vivo: interactions between SEX-LETHAL, the U1 snRNP and U2AF underlie male exon skipping. Development 130: 463-471 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Waterbury, J. A., Horabin, J. I., Bopp, D., Schedl, P. (2000). Sex Determination in the Drosophila Germline Is Dictated by the Sexual Identity of the Surrounding Soma. Genetics 155: 1741-1756 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yanowitz, J. L., Deshpande, G., Calhoun, G., Schedl, P. D. (1999). An N-Terminal Truncation Uncouples the Sex-Transforming and Dosage Compensation Functions of Sex-lethal. Mol. Cell. Biol. 19: 3018-3028 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bhattacharya, A, Sudha, S, Chandra, H., Steward, R (1999). flex, an X-linked female-lethal mutation in Drosophila melanogaster controls the expression of Sex-lethal. Development 126: 5485-5493 [Abstract]  
  • Deshpande, G, Calhoun, G, Schedl, P. (1999). The N-terminal domain of Sxl protein disrupts Sxl autoregulation in females and promotes female-specific splicing of tra in males. Development 126: 2841-2853 [Abstract]  
  • Meise, M, Hilfiker-Kleiner, D, Dubendorfer, A, Brunner, C, Nothiger, R, Bopp, D (1998). Sex-lethal, the master sex-determining gene in Drosophila, is not sex-specifically regulated in Musca domestica. Development 125: 1487-1494 [Abstract]  
  • Saccone, G, Peluso, I, Artiaco, D, Giordano, E, Bopp, D, Polito, L. (1998). The Ceratitis capitata homologue of the Drosophila sex-determining gene sex-lethal is structurally conserved, but not sex-specifically regulated. Development 125: 1495-1500 [Abstract]  
  • Wang, J., Dong, Z., Bell, L. R. (1997). Sex-lethal Interactions with Protein and RNA. ROLES OF GLYCINE-RICH AND RNA BINDING DOMAINS. J. Biol. Chem. 272: 22227-22235 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brady, J. P., Kantorow, M., Sax, C. M., Donovan, D. M., Piatigorsky, J. (1995). Murine Transcription Factor alphaA-crystallin Binding Protein I. J. Biol. Chem. 270: 1221-1229 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wang, J, Bell, L R (1994). The Sex-lethal amino terminus mediates cooperative interactions in RNA binding and is essential for splicing regulation.. Genes Dev. 8: 2072-2085 [Abstract]  
  • Parkhurst, S., Meneely, P. (1994). Sex determination and dosage compensation: lessons from flies and worms. Science 264: 924-932 [Abstract]  
  • Flickinger, T W, Salz, H K (1994). The Drosophila sex determination gene snf encodes a nuclear protein with sequence and functional similarity to the mammalian U1A snRNP protein.. Genes Dev. 8: 914-925 [Abstract]  
  • Erickson, J W, Cline, T W (1993). A bZIP protein, sisterless-a, collaborates with bHLH transcription factors early in Drosophila development to determine sex.. Genes Dev. 7: 1688-1702 [Abstract]  
  • Pauli, D, Oliver, B, Mahowald, A. (1993). The role of the ovarian tumor locus in Drosophila melanogaster germ line sex determination. Development 119: 123-134 [Abstract]  
  • Bopp, D, Horabin, J., Lersch, R., Cline, T., Schedl, P (1993). Expression of the Sex-lethal gene is controlled at multiple levels during Drosophila oogenesis. Development 118: 797-812 [Abstract]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»