This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Aulner, N. Articles by Käs, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Aulner, N. Articles by Käs, E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2002, p. 1218-1232, Vol. 22, No. 4
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.22.4.1218-1232.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The AT-Hook Protein D1 Is Essential for Drosophila melanogaster Development and Is Implicated in Position-Effect Variegation

Nathalie Aulner,^1, Caroline Monod,¹ Guillaume Mandicourt,¹ Denis Jullien,¹ Olivier Cuvier,² Alhousseynou Sall,¹ Sam Janssen,² Ulrich K. Laemmli,² and Emmanuel Käs^1*

Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire Eucaryote, CNRS UMR 5099, 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France,¹ Department of Molecular Biology, University of Geneva, CH1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland²

Received 24 September 2001/ Returned for modification 15 November 2001/ Accepted 26 November 2001

We have analyzed the expression pattern of the D1 gene and the localization of its product, the AT hook-bearing nonhistone chromosomal protein D1, during Drosophila melanogaster development. D1 mRNAs and protein are maternally contributed, and the protein localizes to discrete foci on the chromosomes of early embryos. These foci correspond to 1.672- and 1.688-g/cm³ AT-rich satellite repeats found in the centromeric heterochromatin of the X and Y chromosomes and on chromosomes 3 and 4. D1 mRNA levels subsequently decrease throughout later development, followed by the accumulation of the D1 protein in adult gonads, where two distributions of D1 can be correlated to different states of gene activity. We show that the EP473 mutation, a P-element insertion upstream of D1 coding sequences, affects the expression of the D1 gene and results in an embryonic homozygous lethal phenotype correlated with the depletion of D1 protein during embryogenesis. Remarkably, decreased levels of D1 mRNA and protein in heterozygous flies lead to the suppression of position-effect variegation (PEV) of the white gene in the white-mottled (w^m4h) X-chromosome inversion. Our results identify D1 as a DNA-binding protein of known sequence specificity implicated in PEV. D1 is the primary factor that binds the centromeric 1.688-g/cm³ satellite repeats which are likely involved in white-mottled variegation. We propose that the AT-hook D1 protein nucleates heterochromatin assembly by recruiting specialized transcriptional repressors and/or proteins involved in chromosome condensation.

Present address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63104.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Demakova, O. V., Pokholkova, G. V., Kolesnikova, T. D., Demakov, S. A., Andreyeva, E. N., Belyaeva, E. S., Zhimulev, I. F. (2007). The SU(VAR)3-9/HP1 Complex Differentially Regulates the Compaction State and Degree of Underreplication of X Chromosome Pericentric Heterochromatin in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 175: 609-620 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gilbert, M. K., Tan, Y. Y., Hart, C. M. (2006). The Drosophila Boundary Element-Associated Factors BEAF-32A and BEAF-32B Affect Chromatin Structure. Genetics 173: 1365-1375 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gause, M., Eissenberg, J. C., MacRae, A. F., Dorsett, M., Misulovin, Z., Dorsett, D. (2006). Nipped-A, the Tra1/TRRAP Subunit of the Drosophila SAGA and Tip60 Complexes, Has Multiple Roles in Notch Signaling during Wing Development.. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26: 2347-2359 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Rollins, R. A., Korom, M., Aulner, N., Martens, A., Dorsett, D. (2004). Drosophila Nipped-B Protein Supports Sister Chromatid Cohesion and Opposes the Stromalin/Scc3 Cohesion Factor To Facilitate Long-Range Activation of the cut Gene. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 3100-3111 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Khobta, A., Carlo-Stella, C., Capranico, G. (2004). Specific Histone Patterns and Acetylase/Deacetylase Activity at the Breakpoint-Cluster Region of the Human MLL Gene. Cancer Res. 64: 2656-2662 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kuhn, E. J., Hart, C. M., Geyer, P. K. (2004). Studies of the Role of the Drosophila scs and scs' Insulators in Defining Boundaries of a Chromosome Puff. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 1470-1480 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tamaru, H., Selker, E. U. (2003). Synthesis of Signals for De Novo DNA Methylation in Neurospora crassa. Mol. Cell. Biol. 23: 2379-2394 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Shaffer, C. D., Stephens, G. E., Thompson, B. A., Funches, L., Bernat, J. A., Craig, C. A., Elgin, S. C. R. (2002). Heterochromatin protein 2 (HP2), a partner of HP1 in Drosophila heterochromatin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 14332-14337 [Abstract] [Full Text]