概括
在Drosophila melanogaster中的遗传变异
科学领域:
- 分子生物学分子生物学
- 遗传学 是一个遗传学.
- 发育生物学 发展生物学
背景情况:
- 德洛索菲拉黑虫基因Sgs4对于在幼虫的唾液腺中合成聚 (sgs-4) 是至关重要的.
- 对于幼虫的发育和附着,sgs4基因表达和sgs-4多的产生至关重要.
研究的目的:
- 研究Sgs4基因在不同Drosophila melanogaster菌株中的结构和表达变异.
- 确定非生产菌株中sgs-4mRNA缺乏或稀少的遗传基础.
主要方法:
- 在生产者和非生产者Drosophila菌株中对Sgs4基因结构和mRNA水平进行比较分析.
- 用DNA测序来识别Sgs4基因上游的缺失和结构变异.
- 与Sgs4基因表达相关的DNAase I过敏位点的分析.
主要成果:
- Sgs4基因结构表现出长度变化,原因是双重重复21bp,影响蛋白质和mRNA长度,但不影响丰度.
- 非生产者菌株显示显著减少或不存在sgs-4mRNA,与上游DNA删除相关.
- 非生产菌株 (日本菌株和BER-1) 中的删除包括Sgs4.4上游的唾液腺特异性DNAase I过敏位.
结论:
- 上游DNA删除,特别是那些影响调节元素的删除,如DNAase I过敏位,是导致非生产者Drosophila菌株缺乏Sgs4基因表达的原因.
- 在Sgs4编码序列中的并列重复的数量会影响多和mRNA长度,但不会影响表达水平.
- 这项研究强调了上游调节区域在控制Drosophila melanogaster.基因表达中的重要性.
相关概念视频
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.
Position-effect Variegation
In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.
DNA-only Transposons
DNA-only transposons are called autonomous transposons since they code for the enzyme transposase that is required for the transposition mechanism. Insertion of transposons can alter gene functions in multiple ways. They can mutate the gene, alter gene expression by introducing a novel promoter or insulator sequence, introduce new splice sites, and change the mRNA transcripts produced, or remodel chromatin structure.
The donor site from where the transposon is excised is either degraded or...
The donor site from where the transposon is excised is either degraded or...
Cis-regulatory Sequences
Cis-regulatory sequences are short fragments of non-coding DNA that are present on the same chromosomes as the genes that they regulate. These fragments serve as binding sites for transcriptional regulators, proteins that are responsible for controlling gene transcription and differential gene expression across cell types in eukaryotes. Cis-regulatory sequences can be close to the gene of interest or thousands of bases away in the DNA sequence; however, those sequences that are further away are...
Exon Recombination
The evolution of new genes is critical for speciation. Exon recombination, also known as exon shuffling or domain shuffling, is an important means of new gene formation. It is observed across vertebrates, invertebrates, and in some plants such as potatoes and sunflowers. During exon recombination, exons from the same or different genes recombine and produce new exon-intron combinations, which might evolve into new genes.
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...
Reporter Genes
Reporter genes are a type of protein-coding gene that are often tagged to a gene of interest. Once inside a target cell, reporter genes usually produce visually identifiable characteristics like fluorescence and luminescence when expressed along with the gene of interest. Thus, reporter genes “report” the presence or absence of genes of interest in an organism, determine the gene expression pattern, or track the physical location of a DNA segment or protein in the cell.
Commonly used reporter...
Commonly used reporter...


