Structure and transcription of the singed locus of Drosophila melanogaster

Developmental and genetic studies of the singed gene of Drosophila melanogaster indicate that the gene has a role in somatic cells during the formation of adult bristles and hairs, and in the female germline during oogenesis. During metamorphosis a single 3.6-kilobase (kb) RNA is made, and this RNA is also present in adults and early embryos. Early embryos and adult females have additional 3.3- and 3.0-kb RNAs. The RNAs differ only in the length of the 3' untranslated region and a single gene product of 57 kilodaltons is predicted. Analysis of RNA from females lacking ovaries suggests that the 3.3- and 3.0-kb RNAs are made only in ovaries. The absence of the 3.3- and 3.0-kb RNAs in pupae and the time course of their appearance in adult females after eclosion suggests that transcription of singed in the ovary is from middle to late stages of oogenesis. Analysis of RNA in embryos from the reciprocal crosses between wild type and singed-3 showed that all three RNAs are maternally inherited with very little zygotic transcription in embryos. The mutation singed-3 appears to separate the two requirements for singed function as it has an extreme effect upon bristle development, but does not obviously affect oogenesis. In singed-3, there is a deletion at the 5' end of the gene, but the coding region is intact. Transcription in singed-3 is from a cryptic promoter in the upstream flanking sequences which is sufficiently active during oogenesis for fertility, but less active than the wild-type promoter during metamorphosis. The role of the single singed gene product may be in the asymmetric organization and/or movement of cytoplasmic components.