Poels, J., Martinez, A., Suner, M.M., De Loof, A., Dunbar, S.J., Vanden Broeck, J. (2004). Glucocorticoid-inducible gene expression vectors for use in Drosophila melanogaster Schneider 2 cells.  Insect Mol. Biol. 13(2): 205--211.

FBrf0174751

Research paper

Inducible, vector-based, expression systems that allow fine control of transgene expression are gaining more and more use in fundamental research as well as in therapeutic applications. In an effort to develop a tightly regulated heterologous expression system for Drosophila Schneider 2 cells, three different inducible reporter constructs were compared. These comprised six copies of the glucocorticoid response element fused to one of three distinct types of Drosophila gene promoters: (1) a TATA-box containing, (2) a TATA-less and (3) a bidirectional core sequence. These were fused to a luciferase reporter gene. The promoter constructs displayed different basal as well as agonist-induced activities. The implications of the observations made are discussed in the context of promoter properties and of induction of genes that may be studied in Drosophila.