Transcriptional regulation of the Drosophila raf proto-oncogene by Drosophila STAT during development and in immune response.

The Drosophila raf (D-raf) gene promoter contains a recognition consensus sequence for Drosophila STAT (D-STAT). By band mobility shift assay, we detected a factor binding to the D-STAT-recognition sequence in extracts of cultured Drosophila cells treated with vanadate peroxide. UV-cross-linking analyses suggested the size of the binding factor to be almost same as that of D-STAT. Furthermore, the binding activity was increased in cells cotransfected with HOP and D-STAT expression plasmids. These results strongly suggest that D-STAT binds to the D-STAT recognition sequence in the D-raf gene promoter. Transient luciferase expression assay using Schneider 2 cells indicated that the D-raf gene promoter is activated by D-STAT through the D-STAT-binding site. Furthermore, analyses with transgenic flies carrying Draf-lacZ fusion genes with and without mutations in the D-STAT-binding site pointed to an important role in D-raf gene promoter activity throughout development. We also found that the D-STAT-binding site is required for injury-induced activation of the D-raf gene promoter. Here we propose that D-STAT can participate in regulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade through D-raf gene activation.