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Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 2000, p. 7247-7258, Vol. 20, No. 19
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
dCtBP-Dependent and -Independent Repression
Activities of the Drosophila Knirps Protein
Scott A.
Keller,1
Yifan
Mao,1,
Paolo
Struffi,1
Carla
Margulies,1,
Catherine E.
Yurk,1
Amelia R.
Anderson,1
Roxane L.
Amey,1
Sarah
Moore,1
Julie M.
Ebels,1
Kathy
Foley,1
Maria
Corado,2 and
David N.
Arnosti1,*
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
48824-1319,1 and Department of Biology,
New York University, New York, New York 100032
Received 23 May 2000/Accepted 12 June 2000
Transcriptional repressor proteins play essential roles in
controlling the correct temporal and spatial patterns of gene
expression in Drosophila melanogaster embryogenesis.
Repressors such as Knirps, Krüppel, and Snail mediate short-range
repression and interact with the dCtBP corepressor. The mechanism by
which short-range repressors block transcription is not well
understood; therefore, we have undertaken a detailed structure-function
analysis of the Knirps protein. To provide a physiological setting for
measurement of repression, the activities of endogenous or chimeric
Knirps repressor proteins were assayed on integrated reporter genes in transgenic embryos. Two distinct repression functions were identified in Knirps. One repression activity depends on dCtBP binding, and this
function maps to a C-terminal region of Knirps that contains a dCtBP
binding motif. In addition, an N-terminal region was identified that
represses in a CtBP mutant background and does not bind to the dCtBP protein in vitro. Although the dCtBP protein is important for
Knirps activity on some genes, one endogenous target of the Knirps
protein, the even-skipped stripe 3 enhancer, is not
derepressed in a CtBP mutant. These results indicate that
Knirps can utilize two different pathways to mediate transcriptional
repression and suggest that the phenomenon of short-range repression
may be a combination of independent activities.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI 48824-1319. Phone: (517) 432-5504. Fax: (517) 353-9334. E-mail: arnosti{at}pilot.msu.edu.

Present address: Calydon, Sunnyvale, CA
94089.

Present address: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring
Harbor, NY
11724.
Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 2000, p. 7247-7258, Vol. 20, No. 19
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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