An Untranslated RNA Sequence Encoded in the Putative Regulatory Region of fruitless, a Major Courtship Regulator Gene of Drosophila

Abstract

At about 13 kb upstream from the P1 promoter of the Drosophila melanogaster fruitless ( fru ) gene, we identified a putative non-coding RNA (ncRNA) gene of ~150 bp ( fru -upstream ncRNA: fuR ). fuR is transcribed from the DNA strand complementary to that encoding the fru transcripts in both female and male adults. Of the 10 species of the subgenus Sophophora examined, 9 have the highly conserved fuR sequence. The exception is D. willistoni , in which a 38 bp insertion splits fuR into two segments. Three species of subgenus Drosophila examined also have fuR with minor insertions or deletions. It remains to be determined whether or not fuR modulates fru functions and whether or not the diversification in this sequence correlates to species differences in fru functions.