Upstream sequences modulate in vitro transcription from Drosophila yolk protein genes I and II

A Drosophila transcription system was employed to study transcription in vitro from templates carrying yolk polypeptide I and II (YPI, YPII) promoter regions. The transcription start sites of YPI and YPII genes are linked by 1225 base pairs of intergenic DNA and the genes are transcribed in divergent directions. Transcription was studied in vitro from templates carrying YPI or YPII promoter regions separately. We have successively deleted intergenic DNA upstream of the YPI or the YPII transcription start site and have assayed the dependence of transcription efficiency an template concentration. The results indicate that in vitro YPI and YPII transcript synthesis is controlled by separate cis-acting DNA sequence elements, which are located between 86 and 159 base pairs upstream of the YPI transcription start site and between 161 and 341 base pairs upstream of the YPII transcription start site. These elements stimulate in vitro transcription up to fivefold. Transcription was also studied with templates which contained both YP promoters. The transcription data indicate that the intergenic DNA contains additional DNA motif(s), which apparently modulate in vitro transcription coordinately from both YP promoters in an orientation-dependent manner.