The differentiation of veins in the Drosophila wing relies on localised expression of decapentaplegic (dpp) in pro-vein territories during pupal development. The expression of dpp in the pupal veins requires the integrity of the shortvein region (shv), localised 5′ to the coding region. It is likely that this DNA integrates positive and negative regulatory signals directing dpp transcription during pupal development. Here, we identify a minimal 0.9 kb fragment giving localised expression in the vein L5 and a 0.5 kb fragment giving expression in all longitudinal veins. Using a combination of in vivo expression of reporter genes regulated by shv sequences, in vitro binding assays and sequence comparisons between the shv region of different Drosophila species, we found binding sites for the vein-specific transciption factors Araucan, Knirps and Ventral veinless, as well as binding sites for the Dpp pathway effectors Mad and Med. We conclude that conserved vein-specific enhancers regulated by transcription factors expressed in individual veins collaborate with general vein and intervein regulators to establish and maintain the expression of dpp confined to the veins during pupal development
A postdoctoral short-term fellowship from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) to S. S. is acknowledged. Grants
from Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica to James Castelli-Gair
(BFU2004-01069/BMC), to J.F.d C. (BCM2003-1191 and GEN2001-4846-C05-01), as well as an institutional grant from Fundación Ramón Areces to the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” are also acknowledged
Peer reviewed