Germ line and embryonic expression of Fex, a member of the Drosophila F-element retrotransposon family, is mediated by an internal cis-regulatory control region.

The F elements of Drosophila melanogaster belong to the superfamily of long interspersed nucleotide element retrotransposons. To date, F-element transcription has not been detected in flies. Here we describe the isolation of a member of the F-element family, termed Fex, which is transcribed in specific cells of the female and male germ lines and in various tissues during embryogenesis of D. melanogaster. Sequence analysis revealed that this element contains two complete open reading frames coding for a putative nucleic acid-binding protein and a putative reverse transcriptase. Functional analysis of the 5' region, using germ line transformation of Fex-lacZ reporter gene constructs, demonstrates that major aspects of tissue-specific Fex expression are controlled by internal cis-acting elements that lie in the putative coding region of open reading frame 1. These sequences mediate dynamic gene expression in eight expression domains during embryonic and germ line development. The capacity of the cis-regulatory region of the Fex element to mediate such complex expression patterns is unique among members of the long interspersed nucleotide element superfamily of retrotransposons and is reminiscent of regulatory regions of developmental control genes.