Nucleic Acids Research, 1989, Vol. 17, No. 11 4025-4035
© 1989
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY |
The transcriptional control regions of the copia retrotransposon
Department of Biochemistry, The University Dundee DD1 4HN, UK
*To whom correspondence should be addressed
Received April 13, 1989. Revised April 12, 1989. Accepted April 12, 1989.
We have analysed the sequence elements that control expression of the copia retrotransposon. Expression of copia fusion constructs containing DNA sequence deletions and rearrangements was assayed by transient expression analysis. Progressive deletion and linker substitution identifies two regions on either side of the major transcriptional start sites in the copia long terminal repeat These regions are both required for high level expression in a cultured Drosophila melanogaster cell line but only the upstream region is required for copia expression in a Drosophila hydei cell line. A third control region lies downstream of the long terminal repeat in a region previously believed to contain no cis-acting regulatory sequences. We show by displacement and inversion of this region that it contains a transcriptional enhancer.