developmental patterning (FlyBase Homepage). We
speculate that dve has the same function as the Kr to
control the slp1 gene expression. The data presented
in this paper support such a view, but specifically,
how dve influences the embryonic stripe formation
remains to be determined by further studies.
We also deduced the relationship between slp1
and slp2 through IGB graphic and JASPAR analysis.
Firstly, from the zoom-out snapshot of the two genes
(Figure 4), we found that slp1 and slp2 appeared in
pairs, and slp1 appeared earlier than slp2. Second,
slp1 protein shows high scores in both peaks of slp2
(Table 5). Both phenomena are suggesting that slp1
is an enhancer of slp2. However, this is only
speculation based on the data. A control experiment
should be carried out to compare the expression of
slp2 with or knocking out slp1 to determine the role
of slp1 in slp2’s expression.
Table 4 JASPAR - slp 1 - dve- Analysis Results
Matrix ID
Na
me
Score Relative score Sequence ID Start End
Strand
Predicted sequence Peak
MA0915.1 dve 12.1441 0.985360610986
NT_033779.5:3824600-
3825000
313 320 - CTAATCCC 2
MA0915.1 dve 11.6975 0.975487844496
NT_033779.5:3824600-
3825000
270 277 + ATAATCCC 2
MA0915.1 dve 11.3993 0.968895149107
NT_033779.5:3824600-
3825000
183 190 - GTAATCCG 2
Table 5 JASPAR - slp 2 - slp1- Analysis Results
Matrix ID Name Score Relative score Sequence ID Start End Strand Predicted sequence Peak
MA0458.1 slp1 10.4209 0.904717113268
NT_033779.5:3833900-
3834100
84 94 - CTGTTTACATG 1
MA0458.1 slp1 11.992 0.943959392058
NT_033779.5:3835455-
3835655
181 191 - TTGTTTTCACA 2
4 CONCLUSION
In this study, kuk, slp1 and slp2 were used as
representatives of class 1 and class 2 genes to
investigate the role of Zld in regulating the expression
of different types of genes. Specifically, Zld plays a
decisive role in the expression of class 1 gene, as
when Zld being knocked out, the expression of kuk
will be greatly reduced; The effect of Zld on class 2
gene is not direct and definite because the expression
of slp1 and slp2 don’t witness such significant
decrease after same procedure. These findings further
confirm that zin-finger protein Zld plays an important
role in drosophila embryonic development.
At the same time, this study comes across two
tentative conclusions for further researches to
confirm. First, several transcription factors (i.e. Dve,
Kr, Hb, etc.) were identified that might collaborate
with Zld to control the expression of pair-rule gene.
Secondly, slp 1 is a potential enhancer of slp2. The
data in this paper support these hypothesis, but
uniquely designed experiments are needed to
validate.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank Doctor Christine Rushlow for the guidance
and her lab for providing the research data used in this
paper.
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