Committee on Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011 Apr 26;6(4):e18853. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018853.
Sphinx is a lineage-specific non-coding RNA gene involved in regulating courtship behavior in Drosophila melanogaster. The 5' flanking region of the gene is conserved across Drosophila species, with the proximal 300 bp being conserved out to D. virilis and a further 600 bp region being conserved amongst the melanogaster subgroup (D. melanogaster, D. simulans, D. sechellia, D. yakuba, and D. erecta). Using a green fluorescence protein transformation system, we demonstrated that a 253 bp region of the highly conserved segment was sufficient to drive sphinx expression in male accessory gland. GFP signals were also observed in brain, wing hairs and leg bristles. An additional ∼800 bp upstream region was able to enhance expression specifically in proboscis, suggesting the existence of enhancer elements. Using anti-GFP staining, we identified putative sphinx expression signal in the brain antennal lobe and inner antennocerebral tract, suggesting that sphinx might be involved in olfactory neuron mediated regulation of male courtship behavior. Whole genome expression profiling of the sphinx knockout mutation identified significant up-regulated gene categories related to accessory gland protein function and odor perception, suggesting sphinx might be a negative regulator of its target genes.
Sphinx 是一种特定于谱系的非编码 RNA 基因，参与调控果蝇的求偶行为。该基因的 5'侧翼区在果蝇物种中是保守的，近端 300bp 保守到 D. virilis，进一步 600bp 区域在 melanogaster 亚群（D. melanogaster、D. simulans、D. sechellia、D. yakuba 和 D. erecta）中保守。我们使用绿色荧光蛋白转化系统证明，高度保守片段中的 253bp 区域足以驱动雄性附腺中的 Sphinx 表达。GFP 信号也在大脑、翅膀毛发和腿部刚毛中观察到。另外约 800bp 的上游区域能够特异性增强在喙中的表达，表明存在增强子元件。通过抗 GFP 染色，我们在大脑触角叶和内触角脑束中鉴定出 Sphinx 表达的潜在信号，表明 Sphinx 可能参与嗅觉神经元介导的雄蝇求偶行为调节。Sphinx 敲除突变的全基因组表达谱分析确定了与附腺蛋白功能和嗅觉感知相关的显著上调基因类别，表明 Sphinx 可能是其靶基因的负调节剂。
