‘Escaping’ the X chromosome leads to increased gene expression in the male germline of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Genomic analyses of Drosophila species suggest that the X chromosome presents an unfavourable environment for the expression of genes in the male germline. A previous study in D. melanogaster used a reporter gene driven by a testis-specific promoter to show that expression was greatly reduced when the gene was inserted onto the X chromosome as compared with the autosomes. However, a limitation of this study was that only the expression regulated by a single, autosomal-derived promoter was investigated. To test for an increase in expression associated with 'escaping' the X chromosome, we analysed reporter gene expression driven by the promoters of three X-linked, testis-expressed genes (CG10920, CG12681 and CG1314) that were inserted randomly throughout the D. melanogaster genome. In all cases, insertions on the autosomes showed significantly higher expression than those on the X chromosome. Thus, even genes whose regulation has adapted to the X-chromosomal environment show increased male germline expression when relocated to an autosome. Our results provide direct experimental evidence for the suppression of X-linked gene expression in the Drosophila male germline that is independent of gene dose.