Male-specific Fruitless isoforms have different regulatory roles conferred by distinct zinc finger DNA binding domains.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Drosophila melanogaster adult males perform an elaborate courtship ritual to entice females to mate. fruitless (fru), a gene that is one of the key regulators of male courtship behavior, encodes multiple male-specific isoforms (Fru(M)). These isoforms vary in their carboxy-terminal zinc finger domains, which are predicted to facilitate DNA binding.

Results

By over-expressing individual Fru(M) isoforms in fru-expressing neurons in either males or females and assaying the global transcriptional response by RNA-sequencing, we show that three Fru(M) isoforms have different regulatory activities that depend on the sex of the fly. We identified several sets of genes regulated downstream of Fru(M) isoforms, including many annotated with neuronal functions. By determining

SUBMITTER: Dalton JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3852243 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature