Organisation and expression of a cluster of yolk protein genes in the Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina

• Published in: Genetica 2011, Vol.139 (1), p.63-70
• Main Authors: Scott, Maxwell J., Atapattu, Asela, Schiemann, Anja H., Concha, Carolina, Henry, Rebecca, Carey, Brandi-lee, Belikoff, Esther J., Heinrich, Jörg C., Sarkar, Abhimanyu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified - genetics; Australia; Bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Calliphoridae; Diptera - genetics; E coli; Egg Proteins - genetics; Evolutionary Biology; Female; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes, Insect; Genetic Vectors; Germ Cells; Human Genetics; Life Sciences; Male; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; New Zealand; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Research projects; Sheep - parasitology; SI-Molecular Technologies to Improve SIT; Transformation, Genetic; Transgenes
• ISSN: 0016-6707; 1573-6857
• DOI: 10.1007/s10709-010-9492-6

The Australian sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina is a major pest for the Australian and New Zealand sheep industries. With the long-term aim of making a strain of L. cuprina suitable for a genetic control program, we previously developed a tetracycline-repressible female lethal genetic system in Drosophila. A key part of this system is a female-specific promoter from a yolk protein ( yp ) gene controlling expression of the tetracycline-dependent transactivator (tTA). Here we report the sequence of a 14.2 kb genomic clone from L. cuprina that contains a cluster of three complete yp genes and one partial yp gene. The Lcyp genes are specifically expressed in females that have received a protein meal. A bioinformatic analysis of the promoter of one of the yp genes ( LcypA ) identified several putative binding sites for DSX, a known regulator of yp gene expression in other Diptera. A transgenic strain of L. cuprina was made that contained the LcypA promoter driving the expression of the Escherichia coli lacZ reporter gene. Transgenic females express high levels of β-galactosidase after a protein meal. Thus the LcypA promoter could be used to obtain female-specific expression of tTA in transgenic L. cuprina .