Molecular dissection of cis-regulatory modules at the Drosophila bithorax complex reveals critical transcription factor signature motifs.

At the Drosophila melanogaster bithorax complex (BX-C) over 330kb of intergenic DNA is responsible for directing the transcription of just three homeotic (Hox) genes during embryonic development. A number of distinct enhancer cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) are responsible for controlling the specific expression patterns of the Hox genes in the BX-C. While it has proven possible to identify orthologs of known BX-C CRMs in different Drosophila species using overall sequence conservation, this approach has not proven sufficiently effective for identifying novel CRMs or defining the key functional sequences within enhancer CRMs.

Functional evolution of cis-regulatory modules at a homeotic gene in Drosophila.

It is a long-held belief in evolutionary biology that the rate of molecular evolution for a given DNA sequence is inversely related to the level of functional constraint. This belief holds true for the protein-coding homeotic (Hox) genes originally discovered in Drosophila melanogaster. Expression of the Hox genes in Drosophila embryos is essential for body patterning and is controlled by an extensive array of cis-regulatory modules (CRMs).

Non-genic transcription at the Drosophila bithorax complex functional activity of the dark matter of the genome.

Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful model system for the study of gene regulation due to its short generation time, high fertility and the availability of various genetic tools to manipulate the genome. Investigation into the regulation of homeotic genes and their role in embryonic patterning during development was pioneered in Drosophila. Recently, the molecular mechanisms responsible for regulating gene expression in the bithorax complex have been the focus of active study.

Between transcription and translation: Re-defining RNA and regulation.

The diverse functional roles for RNA molecules in cells of the developing embryo have been an area of intense study in the last few years. Progress reported at the 49(th) Annual Drosophila Research Conference in San Diego, California highlighted many of the varied mechanistic activities for RNAs. In particular, talks at the 'RNA Biology' platform session provided a great deal of insight into the function of RNA transcripts and their associated protein complexes.

The abdominal-B promoter tethering element mediates promoter-enhancer specificity at the Drosophila bithorax complex.

At the Drosophila bithorax complex many distinct classes of cis-regulatory modules work collectively during development to control gene expression. Abdominal-B (Abd-B) is one of three homeotic genes in the BX-C and is expressed in specific presumptive abdominal segments in the embryo. The transcription of Abd-B is tightly controlled by an array of cis-regulatory modules that direct its expression over extended genomic distances.