THE HUMAN TRANSCRIPTION ENHANCER FACTOR-I TEF-1, CAN SUBSTITUTE FOR DROSOPHILA SCALLOPED DURING WINGBLADE DEVELOPMENT

The human transcription enhancer factor-1 (TEF-1) belongs to a family of evolutionarily conserved proteins that have a DNA binding TEA domai n, TEF-1 shares a 98% homology with Drosophila scalloped (sd) in the D NA binding domain and a 50% similarity in the activation domain. We ha ve expressed human TEF-1 in Drosophila under the hsp-70 promoter and f ind that it can substitute for Sd function. The transformants rescue t he wing-blade defects as well as the lethality of loss-of-function all eles. Observation of reporter activity in the imaginal wing discs of t he enhancer-trap alleles suggests that TEF-1 is capable of promoting s d gene regulation. The functional capability of the TEF-1 product was assessed by comparing the extent of rescue by heat shock (hs)TEF-1 wit h that of hs-sd. The finding that TEF-1 can function in vivo during wi ngblade development offers a potent genetic system for the analysis of its function and in the identification of the molecular partners of T EF-1.