Figure 1

The mfr gene is expressed in the testis and ovaries and uses multiple promoters. In (A), an ethidium-bromide stained gel shows the results of an RT-PCR analysis of transcripts in testes (T), ovaries (O), male carcasses lacking reproductive organs (MC), and female carcasses lacking reproductive organs (FC). Gene specific primers for mfr or yip-6, the ubiquitously expressed ribosomal protein L5 gene [44], were used for each tissue sample. In (B), each arrow on the DNA sequence corresponds to a transcription start site represented by a 5' RACE product from testis (below the sequence) or ovary (above the sequence). Brackets indicate that either the G or A/C may serve as the actual transcription start site (see Methods). Also noted are sequences that are highly conserved among Drosophila species (boxed); potential start codons for the longest testis cDNA (T1) (gray ATG#1–3); and underlined intronic sequences in the 5' UTR of ovary transcripts (underlined lowercase letters are intronic in all six ovarian cDNAs, while underlined uppercase, italicized letters are also intronic in four of the cDNAs). Release 5.0 coordinate of the D. melanogaster genome sequence is indicated; 300 nts were omitted as indicated by the slashed lines.