Correct temperature induction and developmental regulation of a cloned heat shock gene transformed into the Drosophila germ line.

We have constructed a size variant of the Drosophila hsp28 gene by deleting 207 base pairs of the protein coding region, beginning 33 base pairs downstream of the ATG protein initiation codon. After transformation of Drosophila melanogaster rosy (ry506) flies with this altered gene, using the P transposable element system, it was found that the transformed gene was regulated correctly both after temperature elevation and during the development of the flies. Levels of the variant mRNA were as high as those of the endogenous hsp28 during all patterns of expression, and the variant mRNA appeared in all cases to be processed correctly and to be as stable as the endogenous mRNA. Nevertheless, the chromosomal locus of the transformed gene did not puff after heat shock, suggesting that normal transcription of the gene does not require puffing of the locus. The deleted hsp28 gene retained the reading frame of the endogenous one, and a protein of the expected molecular weight of 18,500 was made after heat shock at levels comparable to those of the endogenous hsp28.