scholarly journals RNAi Components Are Required for Nuclear Clustering of Polycomb Group Response Elements

Cell ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 124 (5) ◽  
pp. 957-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Grimaud ◽  
Frédéric Bantignies ◽  
Manika Pal-Bhadra ◽  
Pallavi Ghana ◽  
Utpal Bhadra ◽  
...  
Development ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. DeVido ◽  
D. Kwon ◽  
J. L. Brown ◽  
J. A. Kassis

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (22) ◽  
pp. 8026-8034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Rank ◽  
Matthias Prestel ◽  
Renato Paro

ABSTRACT The proteins of the trithorax and Polycomb groups maintain the differential expression pattern of homeotic genes established by the early embryonic patterning system during development. These proteins generate stable and heritable chromatin structures by acting via particular chromosomal memory elements. We established a transgenic assay system showing that the Polycomb group response elements bxd and Mcp confer epigenetic inheritance throughout development. With previously published data for the Fab7 cellular memory module, we confirmed the cellular memory function of Polycomb group response elements. In Drosophila melanogaster, several of these memory elements are located in the large intergenic regulatory regions of the homeotic bithorax complex. Using a transgene assay, we showed that transcription through a memory element correlated with the relief of silencing imposed by the Polycomb group proteins and established an epigenetically heritable active chromatin mode. A memory element remodeled by the process of transcription was able to maintain active expression of a reporter gene throughout development. Thus, transcription appears to reset and change epigenetic marks at chromosomal memory elements regulated by the Polycomb and trithorax proteins. Interestingly, in the bithorax complex of D. melanogaster, the segment-specific expression of noncoding intergenic transcripts during embryogenesis seems to fulfill this switching role for memory elements regulating the homeotic genes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 5189-5202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Tillib ◽  
Svetlana Petruk ◽  
Yurii Sedkov ◽  
Alexander Kuzin ◽  
Miki Fujioka ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In Drosophila, two classes of genes, thetrithorax group and the Polycomb group, are required in concert to maintain gene expression by regulating chromatin structure. We have identified Trithorax protein (TRX) binding elements within the bithorax complex and have found that within thebxd/pbx regulatory region these elements are functionally relevant for normal expression patterns in embryos and confer TRX binding in vivo. TRX was localized to three closely situated sites within a 3-kb chromatin maintenance unit with a modular structure. Results of an in vivo analysis showed that these DNA fragments (each ∼400 bp) contain both TRX- and Polycomb-group response elements (TREs and PREs) and that in the context of the endogenousUltrabithorax gene, all of these elements are essential for proper maintenance of expression in embryos. Dissection of one of these maintenance modules showed that TRX- and Polycomb-group responsiveness is conferred by neighboring but separable DNA sequences, suggesting that independent protein complexes are formed at their respective response elements. Furthermore, we have found that the activity of this TRE requires a sequence (∼90 bp) which maps to within several tens of base pairs from the closest neighboring PRE and that the PRE activity in one of the elements may require a binding site for PHO, the protein product of the Polycomb-group genepleiohomeotic. Our results show that long-range maintenance of Ultrabithorax expression requires a complex element composed of cooperating modules, each capable of interacting with both positive and negative chromatin regulators.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. e30437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhong Cheng ◽  
Deborah Y. Kwon ◽  
Allison L. Arai ◽  
Diane Mucci ◽  
Judith A. Kassis

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 820-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa D. Cunningham ◽  
J. Lesley Brown ◽  
Judith A. Kassis

ABSTRACT The Polycomb group proteins (PcGs) play a vital role throughout development by maintaining precise gene expression patterns. In Drosophila melanogaster, PcG-mediated gene silencing is achieved through DNA elements called Polycomb response elements (PREs); however, the mechanism for establishing silencing and the requirements and composition of a working PRE are not fully understood. We have used the computer program jPREdictor to uncover PREs located within the invected (inv) locus. The functionalities of these predicted PREs were tested in two different assays: one analyzing their abilities to maintain expression of a β-galactosidase reporter gene and the other evaluating their abilities to establish pairing-sensitive silencing of the mini-white reporter in the vector pCaSpeR. We have identified two previously uncharacterized PREs at the inv gene and demonstrate that they produce similar results in the two assays. Our results indicate that clusters of protein binding sites do not accurately predict PREs and provide new insight into the DNA sequence requirements for the binding of the PcG protein Pho. Finally, our data show that PREs and regulatory DNA from different genes can function together to establish PcG-mediated silencing, highlighting the versatility of PREs despite discrepancies in the number and location of DNA binding sites.


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