Induced expression of a Drosophila hsp70 promoter-fusion transgene is reduced after repeated heat shocks.

Levels of transcripts produced by a heat shock protein 70 (hsp70)-antisense white transgene in Drosophila were measured after single and multiple heat shocks to determine whether the hsp70 promoter could produce sustained high levels of transgene transcripts. A single heat shock resulted in typical highly inducible levels of RNA, but the amount of antisense RNA was substantially reduced after multiple heat shocks. Endogenous hsp70 mRNA levels were also less abundant after multiple heat shocks as compared to a single heat shock. The hsp70 promoter is unsuitable for use in fusion gene constructs for long term expression studies where repeated heat shocks are required.