DHMG-Z, A 2ND HMG-1-RELATED PROTEIN IN DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER

We report the identification of dHMG-Z, a gene related to dHMG-D and e ncoding a second invertebrate homologue of HMG 1 protein. The encoded proteins is 65% identical to dHMG-D protein, and also contains a singl e HMG-box as the DNA recognition motif. Analgous to dHMG-D, two transc ripts are observed for dHMG-Z which are differentially regulated, and are the product of zygotic transcription unlike the dHMG-D transcripts which arise from both maternal and zygotic transcription. The genes f or dHMG-D and dHMG-Z are located on adjacent loci in the genome and ea ch contains two introns. The position of the second intron in the codi ng region is conserved between the two genes suggesting a common origi n via gene duplication.