Related enhancers in the intron of the beta1 tubulin gene of Drosophila melanogaster are essential for maternal and CNS-specific expression during embryogenesis.

Expression of the beta1 tubulin gene of Drosophila melanogaster is under complex developmental control. For high levels of transcription in the embryonic central nervous system (CNS) different modules dispersed over 3 kb have to co-operate. Combination of a core promoter with either far upstream localized enhancer elements or, alternatively, with an enhancer from the intron results in expression limited to only a few neuronal cells. Cooperation of all three modules, however, leads to high level expression in most neuronal cells of the CNS. In the intron, we identified a 6 bp core element which is essential for transcription in the CNS, as well as an 8 bp element required for maternal expression. Interestingly, both motifs are quite similar, with CAAAAT as the CNS core and CAAAAAT as the maternal enhancer core. Specific binding of proteins from nuclear extracts to the CNS-specific element could be demonstrated. We suggest that the beta1 tubulin gene represents an ideal marker gene to elucidate connections between pro-neural or neurogenic genes and downstream target genes throughout the CNS.