Crosstalk between vrille transcripts, proteins, and regulatory elements controlling circadian rhythms and development in Drosophila. uri icon

abstract

  • The vrille (vri) gene encodes a transcriptional repressor required for Drosophila development as well as circadian behavior in adults. Alternate first exons produce vri transcripts predicted to produce a short VRI isoform during development and long VRI in adults. A vri mutant (vri 679) lacking long VRI transcripts is viable, confirming that short VRI is sufficient for developmental functions, yet behavioral rhythms in vri 679 flies persist, showing that short VRI is sufficient for clock output. E-box regulatory elements that drive rhythmic long VRI transcript expression are required for developmental expression of short VRI transcripts. Surprisingly, long VRI transcripts primarily produce short VRI in adults, apparently due to a poor Kozak sequence context, demonstrating that short VRI drives circadian behavior. Thus, E-box-driven long VRI transcripts primarily control circadian rhythms via short VRI, whereas the same E-boxes drive short VRI transcripts that control developmental functions using short VRI.

published proceedings

  • iScience

altmetric score

  • 2.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Gunawardhana, K. L., Rivas, G., Caster, C., & Hardin, P. E.

citation count

  • 4

complete list of authors

  • Gunawardhana, Kushan L||Rivas, Gustavo BS||Caster, Courtney||Hardin, Paul E

publication date

  • January 2021