---
pmid: '2113881'
title: A sequence-specific DNA-binding protein that activates fushi tarazu segmentation
  gene expression.
authors:
- Ueda H
- Sonoda S
- Brown JL
- Scott MP
- Wu C
journal: Genes Dev
year: '1990'
full_text_available: false
doi: 10.1101/gad.4.4.624
pubmed_publication_types:
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
publication_type: PRIMARY_RESEARCH
---

# A sequence-specific DNA-binding protein that activates fushi tarazu segmentation gene expression.
**Authors:** Ueda H, Sonoda S, Brown JL, Scott MP, Wu C
**Journal:** Genes Dev (1990)
**DOI:** [10.1101/gad.4.4.624](https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.4.4.624)

## Abstract

1. Genes Dev. 1990 Apr;4(4):624-35. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.4.624.

A sequence-specific DNA-binding protein that activates fushi tarazu segmentation
gene expression.

Ueda H(1), Sonoda S, Brown JL, Scott MP, Wu C.

Author information:
(1)Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

The Drosophila segmentation gene fushi tarazu (ftz) is expressed at the cellular
blastoderm stage in a pattern of seven transverse stripes; the stripes lie out
of register with the segmental primordia, spanning alternate segmental
boundaries. The zebra element, a 740-bp DNA sequence upstream of the ftz
translational start, directs striped expression of lacZ when introduced into the
fly genome. We have purified to homogeneity a sequence-specific DNA-binding
factor, FTZ-F1, that binds to two sites located within the zebra element and to
two sites within the ftz protein-coding sequence. FTZ-F1 DNA-binding activity is
first detected in extracts of 1.5- to 4-hr embryos, coincident with the time of
ftz expression in stripes; the activity then diminishes before reappearing
during late embryo, larval, and adult stages. When one of the FTZ-F1-binding
sequences in the zebra element is mutated by 2- or 4-base substitutions, the
binding to FTZ-F1 is disrupted in vitro, and the intensity of lacZ expression is
reduced in transformed embryos, especially in stripes 1, 2, 3, and 6. The
results suggest that FTZ-F1 is a transcriptional activator necessary for the
proper expression of the ftz gene.

DOI: 10.1101/gad.4.4.624
PMID: 2113881 [Indexed for MEDLINE]