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Positive and negative cis-regulatory elements in the bithoraxoid region of the Drosophila Ultrabithorax gene

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Summary

The Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene is required during embryogenesis and larval development to specify the third thoracic and first abdominal segments of Drosophila melanogaster. Mutations in the bithoraxoid (bxd) region, a 40 kb DNA stretch upstream of the Ubx promoter, affect cis-regulatory elements responsible for the ectodermal expression of the Ubx gene in the posterior compartment of the third thoracic segment and anterior compartment of the first abdominal segment. Our genetic data and the available molecular information are used to map the adult epidermal cis-regulatory elements within the bxd region. Genetic combinations involving mutations affecting the bxd region show that (1) redundant or cooperatively acting sequences are required for Ubx gene expression in the anterior compartment of the first abdominal segment, and (2) the expression of Ubx in the posterior compartment of the third thoracic segment is modulated by positive and negative cis-regulatory elements.

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Author notes

  1. James E. Castelli-Gair

    Present address: The Wellcome Trust CRC Institute for Cancer Research and Developmental Biology, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1QR, Cambridge, UK

  2. José-Luis Micol

    Present address: Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Campus De San Juan, División de Genética, Apdo. 374, 03080, Alicante, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, C.S.I.C. - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    James E. Castelli-Gair, María-Paz Capdevila, José-Luis Micol & Antonio García-Bellido

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  1. James E. Castelli-Gair
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  2. María-Paz Capdevila
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  3. José-Luis Micol
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  4. Antonio García-Bellido
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Additional information

Communicated by M. Ashburner

The Wellcome Trust CRC Institute for Cancer Research and Developmental Biology, Tennis Court Road Cambridge, CB2 1QR, UK

Division de Genética, Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Campus de San Juan, Apdo. 374, 03080 Alicante, Spain

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Castelli-Gair, J.E., Capdevila, MP., Micol, JL. et al. Positive and negative cis-regulatory elements in the bithoraxoid region of the Drosophila Ultrabithorax gene. Molec. Gen. Genet. 234, 177–184 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00283837

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00283837

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