Repression of the Drosophila proliferating-cell nuclear antigen gene promoter by zerknüllt protein.

A 631-bp fragment containing the 5'-flanking region of the Drosophila melanogaster proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) gene was placed upstream of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene of a CAT vector. A transient expression assay of CAT activity in Drosophila Kc cells transfected with this plasmid and a set of 5'-deletion derivatives revealed that the promoter function resided within a 192-bp region (-168 to +24 with respect to the transcription initiation site). Cotransfection with a zerknüllt (zen)-expressing plasmid specifically repressed CAT expression. However, cotransfection with expression plasmids for a nonfunctional zen mutation, even-skipped, or bicoid showed no significant effect on CAT expression. RNase protection analysis revealed that the repression by zen was at the transcription step. The target sequence of zen was mapped within the 34-bp region (-119 to -86) of the PCNA gene promoter, even though it lacked zen protein-binding sites. Transgenic flies carrying the PCNA gene regulatory region (-607 to +137 or -168 to +137) fused with lacZ were established. When these flies were crossed with the zen mutant, ectopic expression of lacZ was observed in the dorsal region of gastrulating embryos carrying the transgene with either construct. These results indicate that zen indirectly represses PCNA gene expression, probably by regulating the expression of some transcription factor(s) that binds to the PCNA gene promoter.