Acquisition of a potential marker for insect transformation: isolation of a novel alcohol dehydrogenase gene from Bactrocera oleae by functional complementation in yeast
P. Benos et al., Acquisition of a potential marker for insect transformation: isolation of a novel alcohol dehydrogenase gene from Bactrocera oleae by functional complementation in yeast, MOL G GENET, 263(1), 2000, pp. 90-95
The alcohol dehydrogenase genes make up one of the best studied gene famili
es in Drosophila, both in terms of expression and evolution. Moreover, alco
hol dehydrogenase genes constitute potential versatile markers in insect tr
ansformation experiments. However, due to their rapid evolution, these gene
s cannot be cloned from other insect genera by DNA hybridization or PCR-bas
ed strategies. We have therefore explored an alternative strategy: cloning
by functional complementation of appropriate yeast mutants. Here we report
that two alcohol dehydrogenase genes from the medfly Ceratitis capitata can
functionally replace the yeast enzymes, even though the medfly and yeast g
enes have evolved independently, acquiring their enzymatic function converg
ently. Using this method, we have cloned an alcohol dehydrogenase gene from
the olive pest Bactrocera oleae. We conclude that functional complementati
on in yeast can be used to clone alcohol dehydrogenase genes that are unrel
ated in sequence to those of yeast, thus providing a powerful tool for isol
ation of dominant insect transformation marker genes.