Organization and regulation of sex-specific thioredoxin encoding genes in the genus Drosophila

Thioredoxins are small thiol proteins that have a conserved active site sequence, WCGPC, and reduce disulfide bonds in various proteins using the two active site cysteines, a reaction that oxidizes thioredoxin and renders it inactive. Thioredoxin reductase returns thioredoxin to its reduced, active form in a reaction that converts NADPH to NADP(+). The biological functions of thioredoxins vary widely; they have roles in oxidative stress protection, act as electron donors for ribonucleotide reductase, and form structural components of enzymes. To date, three thioredoxin genes have been characterized in Drosophila melanogaster: the generally expressed Thioredoxin-2 (Trx-2) and the two sex-specific genes ThioredoxinT (TrxT) and deadhead (dhd). The male-specific TrxT and the female-specific dhd are located as a gene pair, transcribed in opposite directions, with only 470 bp between their transcription start points. We show in this study that all three D. melanogaster thioredoxins are conserved in 11 other Drosophilid species, which are believed to have diverged up to 40 Ma ago and that Trx-2 is conserved all the way to Tribolium castaneum. We have found that the intriguing gene organization and regulation of TrxT and dhd is remarkably well conserved and identified potential conserved regulatory sequences. In addition, we show that the 50-70 C terminal amino acids of TrxT constitute a hyper-variable domain, which could play a role in sexual conflict and male-female co-evolution.