Cloning and Sequencing of the Blood Meal-induced Late Trypsin Gene from the Mosquito Aedes Aegypti and Characterization of the Upstream Regulatory Region

A 4.1 kb genomic clone of the late trypsin gene from the mosquito Aedes aegypti was isolated, mapped and subcloned. A 1.6 kb subclone, corresponding to 1.1 kb of upstream regulatory region and 0.5 kb of coding region, was sequenced. The gene has no introns within the coding region. The 5' end of the mature mRNA was mapped using primer extension analysis. A TATA box consensus sequence (TATAAA) was found at position -31 from the 5' end of the mature mRNA. A cluster of five repeat sequences homologous to the yeast GCN4 DNA binding site was found within 200 nucleotides upstream of the cap site. GCN4 is required for derepression mediated control of general amino acid biosynthesis in response to amino acid starvation in yeast. It activates the transcription of at least twenty different genes coding for enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis. The presence of this cluster of consensus sequences suggests that a protein similar to GCN4 might regulate expression of the late trypsin gene in the mosquito. Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA indicates that late trypsin is a single copy gene.