Analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans dlk‐1 gene expression

Abstract

C. elegans DLK‐1 has been reported to play an important role in synaptogenesis by shaping the structure of presynaptic terminal. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern and regulation of the dlk‐1 gene in C. elegans. To determine the expression pattern, we made a dlk‐1::gfp fusion construct, named pPDdg1, which consisted of ∼2.2 kb 5’ upstream region, the first exon, the first intron, and a part of the second exon of the dlk‐1 gene. By microinjecting this construct into the worm, we observed that the DLK‐1 ::GFP was expressed mainly in neurons. We next examined the regulatory elements of gene expression by deletion analysis of pPDdg1. Removal of a large portion of the 5’ upstream region (?‐361 to ‐2246) of the gene had little effect on the expression pattern, whereas deletion of the first intron led to elimination of the DLK‐1 ::GFP expression in most of the neurons. Our results suggest that the first intron of the C. elegans dlk‐1 gene contains the regulatory element critical for gene expression.

Key words:

• DLK‐1
• dual leucine zipper‐bearing kinase
• C. elegans
• GFP
• gene expression

Notes

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