Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on December 30, 2005.

Genetics, Vol. 172, 2283-2291, April 2006, Copyright © 2006
doi:10.1534/genetics.105.052803

Transposition of Regulatory Elements by P-Element-Mediated Rearrangements in Drosophila melanogaster

Ekaterina Pomerantseva*,1, Inna Biryukova*,{dagger},1, Rita Silicheva*, Ekaterina Savitskaya*,{ddagger}, Anton Golovnin*,{ddagger} and Pavel Georgiev*,2

* Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117334, Russia, {ddagger} Center for Medical Studies of Oslo University, Moscow 117334, Russia and {dagger} Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, IIIkirch Cedex 67404, France

2 Corresponding author: Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 34/5 Vavilov St., Moscow 117334, Russia.
E-mail: georgiev_p{at}mail.ru

Previously we described highly unstable mutations in the yellow locus, induced by the chimeric element and consisting of sequences from a distally located 1A unique genomic region, flanked by identical copies of an internally deleted 1.2-kb P element. Here we show that a sequence, which is part of the yellow 1A region, can be transmitted to the AS-C by successive inversion and reinversion generated by yellow- and AS-C-located P elements. The chimeric element contains a regulatory element from the 1A region that specifically blocks yellow wing and body enhancers and simultaneously stimulates yellow expression in bristles. These results suggest that P-element-generated chimeric elements may play a certain role in rapid changes of regulatory regions of genes during evolution.