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Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2005, p. 5947-5954, Vol. 25, No. 14
0270-7306/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.25.14.5947-5954.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Catherine Regnard,
Annalisa Izzo,
Irene Vetter, and
Peter B. Becker*
Adolf-Butenandt-Institut, Molekularbiologie, Schillerstr. 44, 80336 München, Germany
Received 23 January 2004/ Returned for modification 13 January 2005/ Accepted 29 April 2005
The male-specific-lethal (MSL) proteins in Drosophila melanogaster serve to adjust gene expression levels in male flies containing a single X chromosome to equal those in females with a double dose of X-linked genes. Together with noncoding roX RNA, MSL proteins form the "dosage compensation complex" (DCC), which interacts selectively with the X chromosome to restrict the transcription-activating histone H4 acetyltransferase MOF (males-absent-on-the-first) to that chromosome. We showed previously that MSL3 is essential for the activation of MOF's nucleosomal histone acetyltransferase activity within an MSL1-MOF complex. By characterizing the MSL3 domain structure and its associated functions, we now found that the nucleic acid binding determinants reside in the N terminus of MSL3, well separable from the C-terminal MRG signatures that form an integrated domain required for MSL1 interaction. Interaction with MSL1 mediates the activation of MOF in vitro and the targeting of MSL3 to the X-chromosomal territory in vivo. An N-terminal truncation that lacks the chromo-related domain and all nucleic acid binding activity is able to trigger de novo assembly of the DCC and establishment of an acetylated X-chromosome territory.
Present address: Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire des Eucaryotes, LBME-CNRS UMR 5099-IFR 109, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062-Toulouse Cedex, France.
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