Evolution of the alcohol dehydrogenase (adh) gene regulation in Drosophilidae

The (adh)gene in Drosophilidae present a great interspecific variation at the tissue specific, temporal and quantitative expression.Our main goal is to study the differences in the cis elements and their interaction with the specific transcriptions factors leading to the differences in the expression of the adh gene mainly in S.lebanonensis and D.funebris compared to D. melanogaster. These two species have different structure of the regulatory regions that control the expression of the adh gene. Also the adults of S. lebanonensis compared with D. melanogaster have a fivefold level of adh distal transcripts and to attend this level sequences upstream of the adult tissue specific enhancer are required as has been determined in transgenic flies using a co-transgen as a control of position effect.

We are characterizing the elements of this regulatory region and also have another project on the coevolution between the cis elements and transcription factors of the adult adh enhancer and regulatory promoter.