Multiple upstream regulatory elements control the expression of the Drosophila white gene.

Constructions containing the Drosophila white gene and different amounts and arrangements of its regulatory region were introduced into the germ line of white mutant flies by P-mediated transformation. The results obtained with the different transposon constructions show that different parts of the 1.8-kb region preceding the transcription start are required for the expression of the gene in different tissues and at different developmental stages. Different sequences independently control the expression of the gene in the adult testes, in the larval and adult Malpighian tubules and in the eye. Another sequence located greater than 1080 bp upstream of the transcription start is the target of zeste interaction. The results also suggest that sequences required for dosage compensation are contained between -216 and the transcription start site. We show that at least some of these regulatory elements are equally functional if their distance from the promoter is varied or if their orientation is inverted. Their properties suggest that they act as enhancer-like elements to regulate the activity of the white promoter and, at least in the case of the zeste regulatory site, that they can act also in 'trans' on a white promoter locked in close physical proximity by homologous chromosome pairing.