Silencing of a gene adjacent to the breakpoint of a widespread Drosophila inversion by a transposon-induced antisense RNA.

ABSTRACT: Adaptive changes in nature occur by a variety of mechanisms, and Drosophila chromosomal inversions was one of the first studied examples. However, the precise genetic causes of the adaptive value of inversions remain uncertain. Here we investigate the impact of the widespread inversion 2j of Drosophila buzzatii on the expression of the CG13617 gene, whose coding region is located only 12 bp away from the inversion proximal breakpoint. This gene is transcribed into a 2.3-kb mRNA present in all D. buzzatii developmental stages. More importantly, the expression level of CG13617 is reduced 5-fold in embryos of lines homozygous for the 2j inversion compared with lines without the inversion. An antisense RNA that originates in the Foldback-like transposon Kepler inserted at the breakpoint juncti

SUBMITTER: Puig M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC428464 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature