Roles of cis-acting elements and chromatin structure in Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene expression

The alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene of D. melanogaster is transcribed from two different promoters during fly development: the distal (adult) and the proximal (embryonic-larval). Certain aspects of Adh gene regulation are represented in Drosophila continuous cell lines. We have used Drosophila tissue culture cells in an in vivo transient expression assay to delimit cis-acting sequences affecting Adh expression, and to investigate the role of chromatin structure in Adh gene regulation. These studies show that positive cis-acting elements of the distal promoter can exist in at least 2 alternative chromatin configurations. There is a close correlation between specific transcriptional activity of the Adh distal promoter and a defined, localized chromatin structural change that indicates altered DNA-protein interactions. Thus, chromatin structure appears to play a role in regulating the accessibility of defined positive cis-acting regulatory sequences of Adh to transcription factors and the transcription machinery.