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Molecular and Cellular Biology, December 2005, p. 10433-10441, Vol. 25, No. 23
0270-7306/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.25.23.10433-10441.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Sarah Bray,2
Dieter Maier,1 and
Anette Preiss1*
Institut für Genetik (240), Universität Hohenheim, Garbenstr. 30, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany,1 Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom2
Received 31 May 2005/ Returned for modification 28 July 2005/ Accepted 14 September 2005
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Repression of Notch target genes in Drosophila species is mediated by Hairless (H), which binds to DNA-bound Su(H) (4, 30). Combined overexpression of Su(H) and Hairless results in a strong inhibition of Notch-dependent transcription, indicating that binding of Hairless transforms Su(H) into a repressor (17, 30). Hairless in turn is reported to recruit two global corepressors, CtBP (30) and Groucho (Gro) (4). Both corepressors appear to contribute to repression during bristle shaft development, as mutations in either Gro or CtBP enhance the bristle loss caused by reducing Hairless function (4). However, deletion of the CtBP-binding domain from Hairless was sufficient to abrogate its repressive activity upon coexpression with Su(H) (30), even though the protein would have retained the ability to interact with Gro, suggesting nonredundant roles for the two corepressors. Thus, the relative roles of Gro and CtBP in Hairless-mediated repression remain to be clarified.
Gro and CtBP are implicated as corepressors for many different transcription factors; they mostly interact directly with the DNA-binding protein itself rather than requiring an additional intermediary such as Hairless. Gro itself was first identified as a corepressor for the E(spl) basic helix-loop-helix proteins encoded by the immediate downstream targets of Notch (23, 38). It has subsequently been shown to participate in many different repressor complexes, and tethering of Gro-binding domains to a DNA-binding protein is sufficient to convert it into a transcriptional repressor (16). Thus, Gro alone has the capability of repressing gene transcription. Likewise, CtBP is also sufficient to confer repressive function, and in the closely related proteins Snail, Escargot, and Worniu, it is indeed the CtBP-binding domain that confers distinct and essential repressive characteristics on Snail (20). Recently it has emerged that two transcription factors, Hairy and Brinker, have the ability to recruit both CtBP and Gro. Complexed with Brinker, the two proteins seem to contribute to repression of an overlapping set of targets; one set responds more strongly to Gro, a second more strongly to CtBP, and a third to both equally (13, 19, 46). In addition, Brinker has a further type of repressor activity which is independent of either corepressor and involves competition with other DNA-binding proteins. On Hairy target genes, Gro and CtBP appear to mediate separate pathways of repression, and CtBP is reported to interfere with Gro-mediated repression (39, 47). Furthermore, chromatin profiling indicates that cofactor recruitment is context dependent but suggests that repression of the majority of Hairy target genes involves CtBP acting in combination with dSir2 rather than Gro (5).
Here we have set out to investigate the contributions of Gro and CtBP to Hairless-mediated repression in Drosophila species. We have tested the residual activity of mutant forms of Hairless that are unable to recruit one or the other of the corepressors both in direct transcriptional assays in cell culture and in overexpression assays during wing development. We find that Hairless requires interaction with both cofactors for full repression; removal of one or the other interaction renders it as inactive as removing both in most assays. Thus, the two corepressors appear to act in combination. Furthermore, even when both motifs are deleted Hairless retains significant repressive activity for Notch target promoters, arguing that it has an additional mechanism of repression, most likely by interfering with the recruitment of the activating complex containing NICD.
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10 to 180 kDa). Secondary AP-coupled antibodies
(Jackson Lab) were used at 1:200. Antibodies directed against CtBP were
raised against a glutathione S-transferase fusion
protein in rats (Pineda ABservice, Berlin, Germany); the respective
pGEX construct was kindly provided by S. Parkhurst.
Yeast
two-hybrid protein interaction assays were performed as previously
described (34) using
VP16-dCtBP (40) or
VP16-Gro and pEG-Gro (1).
For bait constructs, pEG-HFL, -H
S (= HC2), -HC3, -HCX,
and -H
C (= HC6) were used (see reference
27). pEG-GBDcontains amino acids 565 to 712; potential eh1-related Gro-binding
motifs were mutated by changing aromatic amino acid F582
(GBD-1) or Y663 (GBD-2) into alanine. H
G deletes
amino acids 490 to 712. Counts begin with the first methionine
(29). In the H*C
mutation, the CtBP binding site was altered by in vitro mutagenesis
from PLNLSKH to VIQITKR; in H*G, the wild-type GBD was
replaced by GBD-2. Changes were confirmed by sequence
analysis.
Analysis of target gene activation. S2 cells were transfected with 1 µg of luciferase reporters containing Notch-responsive Su(H) sites (NME) or mutated sites (NRE) (8) and 0.2 µg of a control Renilla-expressing plasmid (tk-Renilla; Promega). Reporters also contained binding sites for Grainyhead (Grh), as described for the equivalent in vivo reporters [Gbe plus Su(H)-LacZ] (17). Expression from the two plasmids was measured by a dual luciferase assay (Promega). To analyze effects of Hairless on NICD, cells were cotransfected with 1 µg of pMT-ICN (15) and 0.5 µg of the relevant pMT-H construct (cloned by shuttling the respective coding sequences into pRmHa-3 [10]). For titration experiments, the amount of H constructs was adjusted as indicated. To analyze effects on Grh, cells were cotransfected with 1 µg of pMT-Grh and 0.5 µg of the relevant pMT-H construct. In all cases the total amount of transfected DNA was normalized to 3 µg by use of pMT-A (Invitrogen). Expression of NICD, Hairless, and/or Grh was induced by adding 0.6 mM Cu2SO4 6 h after transfection. Cells were harvested 18 h after addition of Cu2SO4. Integrity and the amounts of expressed H protein variants were assayed on Western blots.
Manipulation of gene activity in vivo.
Tissue-specific
expression of respective transgenes was induced with a Gal4 upstream
activation sequence (UAS) system
(6) using
omb-Gal4 and the indicated UAS lines or UAS-redStinger as a
control
(http://www.flybase.net/).
UAS-Su(H) and UAS-H lines were as described previously
(28,
34). Cloning details for
UAS-H
C (deletes amino acids 1062 to 1076), UAS-H
G
(deletes amino acids 490 to 712), and UAS-H
GC (double deletion
of amino acids 490 to 712 and 1062 to 1076) and
UAS-Su(H)WRPW (WRPW codons added in frame at C terminus) are
available upon request. Several transgenic fly lines were generated for
each construct and tested for expressivity in vivo. Representative
lines that have similar expression levels as determined by Western blot
analysis and immunostaining of imaginal disks were used for further
experiments. For repression assays the respective lines were crossed
with the vgBE-LacZ
line (24), and for
coexpression they were recombined with UAS-Su(H).
Tissue-specific RNA interference (RNAi) was induced by misexpression of internal repeat constructs as outlined for pUdsGFPgro in reference 33; segments from the corresponding genes were PCR amplified, cloned into pHIBS, and shuttled into pUdsGFP or pUAST. pUdsGFP-SuH contains 445 nucleotides of the Su(H) cDNA in a double-headed orientation (coding sequence, nucleotides 808 to 1253); pUAST-dsH contains 285 nucleotides of Hairless (coding sequence, nucleotides 582 to 867); and pUAST-dsCtBP contains 296 nucleotides of CtBP (coding sequence, nucleotides 1 to 296). Several transgenic lines were established that behaved identically as determined on the basis of adult phenotypes and of the ability to knock down cognate mRNA-protein levels (as analyzed in situ and on Western blots).
Immunohistochemistry. Staining of imaginal disks and Western blot analysis were performed as described before (34) using the following antisera: anti-Gro and anti-beta-galactosidase (developed by C. Delidakis and J. Sanes, respectively; obtained from Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242); anti-H-A and anti-NTH(28, 29); and anti-CtBP and anti-Su(H) (18). Secondary antibodies coupled to alkaline phosphatase, fluorescein, Cy3, or Cy5 were purchased from Jackson Laboratory. Samples were embedded in Vectashield (Vector Lab) and analyzed on a Zeiss Axiophot linked to a Bio-Rad MRC1024 confocal microscope.
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FIG. 1. Relationship
between Hairless and the corepressors CtBP and Gro. (A)
Hairless binds to Gro and CtBP in vivo. Proteins immunoprecipitated
(IP) from embryonic extracts by anti-Hairless antibodies were probed to
detect Gro or CtBP as indicated. The input lane (in) contained 30% of
the extract used for IP. C, control precipitate with unrelated
antibody. Typically, Hairless is detected as two protein bands, 120 kDa
and 150 kDa. (B) Hairless can recruit CtBP and Gro at the
same time. Anti-Gro antiserum was used to immunoprecipitate in
vitro-translated proteins from a mixture containing Hairless, Gro, and
CtBP (input 3) or just Gro and CtBP (input 2). The presence of Gro,
Hairless, and CtBP was detected in the immunoprecipitates (arrowheads)
in comparison to input (in) (16%). CtBP was only detected when the mix
contained H also but was not detected in the double mixture.Control, precipitate with unrelated antiserum, probed with anti-CtBP;
M, protein ladder (sizes in kilodaltons). (C and D) Negative regulation
of the vgBE-LacZ by
Hairless, Su(H), and Gro. (C) Schematic drawing of a wing
disk; the dorsoventral boundary (red), omb expression domain
(green), and prospective wing blade (light blue) are indicated. The
inset depicts the sector shown in panel D. (D) Effects on
vgBE-LacZ (red) of
expressing double-stranded (ds) RNAi constructs, as indicated, in the
omb domain (white dotted lines indicate the right boundary of
the domain). Note that double-stranded RNAi against Su(H), Hairless,
and Gro but not CtBP causes derepression of
vgBE-LacZ (yellow
brackets). UAS-redStinger was overexpressed in the
control.
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To test this assumption, we used the Gal4 system to locally reduce gene activity by RNAi (11, 33) and monitored Su(H)-dependent regulation of vg by use of a vgBE-LacZ reporter line (24). The omb-Gal4 driver was used to express the RNAi constructs in a limited domain at a late stage of development, after expression of vgBE-LacZ has been established (Fig. 1C and D). This approach confirmed our prediction (Fig. 1D): knock down of either Su(H) or Hairless activity in the central domain of the wing resulted in an upregulation of vg on either side of the boundary. Our results differ from previous work that showed a reduction of vg-encoded protein in clones of cells homozygous for a hypomorphic allele of Su(H) (24). Two aspects of our experiments could account for our ability to detect derepression when Su(H) is knocked down. First, Su(H) activity is removed at late stages, after vgBE-LacZ has already been activated. Therefore, the enhancer is already in a primed state in which the composition of the Su(H) complexes is likely to be critical to whether or not the enhancer is repressed [e.g., other activators are bound; Su(H)-Hairless is the break that keeps the enhancer off unless NICD is present]. Second, the RNAi could be more effective than the mutant clones at eliminating Su(H). Su(H) mutants frequently retain significant Su(H) activity due to perdurance of the protein-mRNA (26). The residual low level of Su(H) may be sufficient to keep target genes repressed, because loss of repression was seen in the embryo only when Su(H) function was eliminated using a deletion allele (31).
Reducing Gro activity resulted in a similar broadening of the vg expression domain, suggesting that Gro is part of the repression complex. Interference with CtBP activity did not affect expression of the vg reporter construct at all. Under these conditions, therefore, it appears that Gro is an essential corepressor but that CtBP is not. Although the RNAi caused a conspicuous reduction of CtBP protein amounts and defects in the adult wing (data not shown), we cannot rule out the possibility that there was insufficient knockdown of CtBP to elicit an effect on vg expression. Nevertheless, these data suggest that there might be differential requirements for the two corepressors at different enhancers or contexts. We therefore set out to investigate the contribution of Gro and CtBP to Hairless-mediated repression in more detail.
Contribution of CtBP and Gro to Hairless-mediated repression of Notch target gene activation.
In order to
dissect the roles of Gro and CtBP in mediating Hairless-dependent
repression we generated mutant forms of Hairless that lacked the
ability to bind either one or both of these cofactors. Previous
experiments showed that a C-terminal motif is both necessary and
sufficient for recruiting CtBP
(4,
30). An
isolated region encompassing one eh1-like motif (amino acids
616 and 723) is capable of binding to Gro but not when this
motif is mutated (4). We
first confirmed that deletion of the Gro- and CtBP-binding domains in
the context of the full-length protein was sufficient to abrogate
binding to the cognate corepressor by use of a yeast two-hybrid assay
to measure interactions (Fig.
2A). This confirmed that a single domain is necessary for binding to Gro;
deletion of this domain (
G; Fig.
2A) eliminates Gro
binding. To avoid potential complications arising from deletion of the
entire Gro-binding domain, we also tested the effects of mutating a
single amino acid in the eh1-like motif and found that this was
sufficient to eliminate binding to the isolated Gro-binding domain
(GBD-2 Y
A; Fig.
2A). On the basis of this
interaction analysis we constructed mutant forms of Hairless that
lacked binding to one or both corepressors for expression in vivo (Fig.
2B). All of these mutated
proteins were still able to interact with Su(H) (not shown). A mutant
form of Hairless that lacked Su(H) binding (H
S) was also
constructed, along with a severely truncated polypeptide that contained
only the Su(H) interaction domain [Su(H)-binding domain (SBD); Fig.
2B].
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FIG. 2. Both
CtBP and Gro are necessary for Hairless-mediated repression in S2
cells. (A) Mapping Gro and CtBP interaction domains.
Interactions of Hairless with CtBP or Gro were investigated by yeast
two-hybrid assay: positive interactions appear blue on X-Gal indicator
plates, negatives and control (pEG, empty vector) remain white. A
central domain of about 150 amino acids was necessary (H G) and
sufficient (GBD) for binding to Gro. This domain contains two eh1-related binding motifs
(site 1, EFEKCSLED; site 2,
SYSIHSLLG). Mutations within site 1 (F A;
GBD-1) retained Gro binding, whereas mutations within site 2
(Y A, GBD-2) completely destroyed it. The CtBP interaction
domain CBD was confined to a 15-amino-acid interval (H C).
Conservative substitution within this motif
(PLNLSKH to VIQITKR) resulted
in a complete loss of CtBP binding (H*C). The Su(H) binding SBD domain
is depicted in red. (B) Constructs for assay of residual Hairless
activity in cell culture; remaining codons are numbered. (C to F)
Effects of Hairless proteins on transcription of Notch reporters (NRE)
in the presence of NICD (1 µg) (C to E) or Grh (1
µg) (F). S2 cells were transfected with the constructs
indicated; control was empty vector (Con). The level of expression from
the NRE (blue) (C to E) and NME [mutated Su(H) sites] (red) (C and D)
was measured in comparison to cotransfected renilla plasmid;
y-axis numbers indicate this relative luciferase activity from
the NRE or NME reporters. Values for NRE in the presence of
NICD or Grh clone were normalized to 100% (D to F). In panel
C, differing amounts of each construct are indicated in micrograms. In
panel E, the concentrations used were 1.5 µg, 0.5 µg,
0.125 µg, and 0.003 µg. (G) Hairless mutant proteins
are expressed at similar levels. Cells transfected with 0.5 µg
of the Hairless plasmids indicated (along with the other plasmids
described for panel E) were analyzed using Western blots probed with
anti-Hairless to detect the expression of the Hairless variants, and
anti-tubulin, to detect overall protein
levels.
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S, confirming that the interaction with Su(H) is
necessary for repression (Fig.
2D). Deletion and mutation
of either the CtBP-binding domain (H
C, H*C) or the Gro-binding
domain (H
G, H*G) had similar effects on repression. All four
mutant forms of Hairless had severely compromised repressive activity
but were still able to reduce the levels of activity in the presence of
NICD by 50% (Fig.
2D). The relative effects
of the different mutant forms were consistent over a wide range of
concentrations (Fig. 2E
and data not shown). In all cases the amount of repression increased
when higher concentrations of protein were added, but the mutated
constructs always showed compromised activity compared to the wild
type. These data suggest, therefore, that CtBP and Gro are equally
important for the repressive function of Hairless.
Since loss of
one or the other corepressor domain led to a significant loss of
repression we anticipated that mutating both domains together would
have an additive effect and would eliminate all repressive activity of
Hairless. Surprisingly, however, the double-mutant forms of the protein
(H
GC, H*GC) still retained repressive activity, reducing
expression to 50 to 67% of the level seen with NICD alone,
even though they could bind neither Gro nor CtBP (Fig.
2B, D, and E). Thus, lack
of binding to both corepressors resulted in a reduction of Hairless
activity similar to that seen in the absence of a single corepressor
site, suggesting that the corepressors act in combination. The residual
activity in the double mutant (H*GC) might be due to competition
between H and NICD for binding to Su(H). If this were the
case we would expect the effects to be sensitive to the amount of
Hairless proteins added, which is what was observed (Fig.
2E). However, expression
of the Hairless SBD alone was not sufficient to mediate repression, as
might be expected for a simple competition model, which is consistent
with data arguing that NICD and Hairless bind to
nonoverlapping regions in Su(H)
(9,
21,
35).
To test the
repressive effects of Hairless in the absence of NICD, we
investigated its ability to inhibit transcription in the presence of
Grh. The NRE reporter also contains binding sites for the
transcriptional activator Grh which stimulated transcription fourfold
in the absence of NICD (Fig.
2F) and increased the
stimulation seen in the presence of NICD (data not shown).
Addition of full-length Hairless inhibited these effects, reducing
transcription in the presence of Grh alone by 50%. Furthermore, this
inhibitory effect was dependent on Su(H), as indicated by a lack of
repression of H
S, and required both CtBP and Gro, since
Hairless proteins with either interaction domain mutated (H
C,
H*C, H
G, H*G; Fig.
2B) had lost most of their
repressive activity (Fig.
2F). Again, the
levels of activity with the single mutants were similar to the levels
seen with the double-mutant forms of the protein (H
GC, H*GC)
and all resulted in >90% of the expression seen with Grh
(Fig. 2F).
These experiments suggest that Hairless has two modes of repression,
one that operates by repressing the transcriptional machinery through
its recruitment of global corepressors and a second that operates by
directly antagonizing NICD.
These data confirm therefore that both Gro and CtBP can function as corepressors with Hairless, and indeed both factors are necessary for full repression by Hairless on the NRE; preventing the interaction with one or the other factor severely compromises Hairless activity. This is in apparent contrast to the effects on vgBE-LacZ, for which only Gro appeared essential. Furthermore, the two cofactors appear to act together, since Hairless proteins lacking both interaction motifs retained a level of repression that was comparable to the results seen upon removing either alone.
Both Gro and CtBP recruitment motifs are required for repressive function of Hairless in vivo.
Overexpression of Hairless
interferes with Notch signaling, as manifested by Notch
loss-of-function phenotypes in many tissues with which it has been
tested (for examples, see reference
27). In the wing,
Hairless overexpression severely inhibits growth and results in wing
margin defects, thickening of the veins, and aberrant bristles (Fig.
3B). This assay was used to monitor residual activity of Hairless mutant
proteins in vivo. All three H
proteins exhibit nuclear
localization in disks similar to that seen with the full-length
Hairless construct (HFL) (see Fig. 4C
to
F) and are expressed at similar levels in the lines analyzed (data not
shown). Overexpression of H
C, H
G, or H*G within the
central domain of the wing by use of the omb-Gal4 driver
caused phenotypes of wing margin loss and notching (Fig.
3C to E). These phenotypes
are weaker than those seen with overexpression of HFL (Fig.
3B) and are consistent
with the two mutant forms having reduced repressive function.
H
GC, which has completely lost its ability to interact with
either corepressor, still caused thickened veins and notching, but the
effects were weaker than those seen with the other constructs (Fig.
3F). Similar results were
obtained when we monitored effects on the
vgBE enhancer.
vgBE-LacZ expression
was strongly inhibited by overexpression of Hairless and was
inhibited to a lesser extent when either or both of the interaction
domains were missing (Fig. 4C to
F).
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FIG. 3. Both
Gro and CtBP binding motifs are required for Hairless-mediated
repression in the wing. (A) In the wild-type (WT) wing, the
five longitudinal veins (L1 to L5) are easily discernible.
(B) Hairless overexpression (HFL) results in a small
wing with thickened veins and clumps of bristles at the tip (see arrow and arrowhead in enlargement at
right). (C to F) Effects of deletion constructs (H C,
H G, H*G, H GC) are similar and less severe than that
of Hairless; wings have some vein thickening (arrow) and disrupted
margin (arrowhead). (G) Co-overexpression of H GC with Su(H)
results in a dramatically enhanced phenotype with ectopic bristles and
thickened wing veins and margin defects (arrow and arrowhead,
respectively; see enlargement). (H) Su(H) overexpression. Wings lack
veins (open arrow) and have balloon-like overgrowth; wings often cannot
be inflated well after eclosion, as seen here. (I) Overexpression of
Su(H)WRPW causes more-severe phenotypes than Hairless
overexpression, with deep incisions (arrow). In all cases proteins were
overexpressed using the omb-Gal4 driver. Wings are shown at
same magnification; enlargements are shown in the right
panels.
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FIG. 4. Requirement
for Gro and CtBP for the repression of the Notch target gene
vg. (A) Control disk expressing UAS-redStinger
(green). The boxed area depicts a region shown at higher magnification
in panels B and C to H. (C to H) Use of full-length Hairless
(C) or Su(H)WRPW (H) results in complete
repression of vgBE-LacZ (red),
whereas H G (D), H C (E), and H GC
(F) cause only partial repression (yellow arrows). The
indicated proteins were overexpressed using the omb-Gal4
driver and detected by anti-Hairless or anti-Su(H) staining
(green). The white dotted line indicates the right boundary of
expression. (G) Overexpression of Su(H) induces
vgBE-LacZ expression
(yellow arrow) and causes increased growth of the wing
disk.
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C, or
H
G with Su(H) resulted in larval or early pupal lethality,
with severely distorted disks and extensive apoptosis. H
GC and
Su(H) combinations produced viable offspring, albeit with strongly
enhanced phenotypes compared with that seen with H
GC
overexpression alone, that include supernumerary bristles along
thickened veins (Fig. 3G).
These phenotypes are qualitatively similar to those observed with
full-length Hairless alone (Fig.
3B). In other repressor complexes it appears that recruitment of either Gro or CtBP directly by the transcriptional regulator is sufficient to mediate repression. Why should Su(H) require a complex consisting of Hairless plus two further cofactors in some contexts? To investigate whether this is a characteristic of Su(H) we tested the effect of fusing a Gro binding motif (WRPW) to Su(H) directly. Su(H)WRPW proved itself to be a potent repressor in the wing, resulting in extreme wing nicking and inhibition of vgBE-LacZ expression (Fig. 3I and 4H). Thus, addition of a Gro recruitment domain to Su(H) converts it into a powerful repressor.
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Both Gro and CtBP are well-characterized corepressors; they are directly recruited by transcriptional regulators and, in general, either protein alone is sufficient to mediate repression (reviewed in reference 13). In fact we have shown that conferring Gro-binding ability to Su(H) turns it in a potent repressor (Fig. 3 and 4). We had anticipated that this might also be the case for Hairless, with one or the other protein being sufficient to confer corepression function at specific enhancers. In cell culture, however, deletion of the Gro interaction domain or the CtBP interaction domain renders the protein as inactive as a deletion that removes both domains together. The results in flies are slightly different, with the double-domain deletion giving weaker phenotypes than deletion of either domain alone, although the defects are qualitatively similar. Together, the data suggest that in the absence of one corepressor the other functions poorly or not at all and, thus, that the two act together in many contexts.
In addition we also discovered that Hairless has repressive activity in the absence of either Gro or CtBP binding. This activity is only observed in the presence of NICD, suggesting that Hairless has an additional mode of inhibition that involves direct antagonism of NICD. This accounts for approximately half of the repressive activity of Hairless in cell culture assays but does not appear to involve a simple competition for binding to Su(H), since the Su(H)-binding domain of Hairless, SBD, is insufficient for this activity. However, the full-length Hairless protein may contain an additional domain that can mask essential interfaces on Su(H) or on other essential factors (e.g., SKIP) (48) that are required for productive Su(H)-NICD complex formation. Thus, our data argue that Hairless displays two modes of inhibition, one via the combined function of both Gro and CtBP and another that targets NICD independently of either corepressor (Fig. 5).
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FIG. 5. Two
modes of Hairless repression. (A) Active repression requires
the combined activity of Gro and CtBP and is independent of Notch. In
this example, the activator of transcription is Grh. (B)
Competition with NICD: specific antagonism of
NICD can occur independently of corepressors (as shown here)
and is dose dependent on
Hairless.
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Although our cell culture and in vivo assays
reveal that Hairless differs from Brinker and Hairy in needing the
combined actions of Gro and CtBP for repression, there may be
circumstances in which one or the other is sufficient. For example,
knockdown experiments using RNAi in the wing showed a requirement for
Gro but not for CtBP in
vgBE-LacZ repression,
although it is possible that CtBP was not sufficiently compromised by
our RNAi treatments. In addition, overexpression of Hairless proteins
that retain the ability to bind one or the other corepressor produced
more-severe phenotypes than H
GC. Furthermore, in previous
studies, phenotypes resulting from a mutation that removes the
CtBP-binding domain from Hairless (H22)
were found to be weaker than the phenotypes seen with Hairless null
mutations and could still be enhanced even by decreased amounts of Gro,
arguing that H22 protein retained some Gro-dependent
repressive activity (4).
However, this observation is complicated by the fact that Gro functions
with other DNA-binding proteins in the process of bristle development
that was examined in the assay.
Previous studies of CtBP and Gro have argued that they mediate repression in qualitatively different ways, although both are thought to recruit histone deacetylases (12, 13, 42, 44, 47). Gro has predominantly been associated with so-called long-range repression, as it operates to dominantly silence modular enhancers. In contrast, CtBP appears to act in a local way to inhibit activators that are bound nearby (13, 36). However, these models do not appear compatible with a combined requirement for Gro and CtBP in Hairless-mediated repression. Furthermore, direct fusion of a Gro interaction domain to the Su(H) protein was sufficient to convert it into a potent repressor, as described for other transcriptional regulators (22). Why should Gro and CtBP therefore be interdependent in the context of Hairless recruitment? One simple explanation would be that one or the other corepressor is needed to specifically counteract NICD activation. For example, CtBP interferes with recruitment of p300 (25), a histone acetyltransferase that is reported to interact with mammalian NICD (37, 45). However, our data suggest that CtBP and Gro are both needed to repress Grh even in the absence of NICD, arguing that each corepressor can only perform a subset of its functions in the context of Hairless. Maybe the two corepressors recruit different enzymatic activities that are needed together to promote repression. If the Hairless complex were incompatible with oligomerization of Gro, which is reported to be important for stable repression (43), Gro might be able to recruit histone deacetylases but not to promote spreading of the repression complex. And if CtBP, which in mammals has been found complexed with methyl transferases as well as deacetylases (42), could recruit only histone methyl transferases, the corepressors would each confer a critical component on the Hairless complex. A more complete understanding of the molecular functions of Gro and CtBP in the context of chromatin dynamics and transcription complexes will be needed to determine why Hairless requires their coordinate activities in many developmental scenarios, as we have shown here.
This work was supported by grants from the German Science Foundation to A.P. and D.M. (SFB 495), from the Medical Research Council to S.B. (G0200457) and from CONACYT to A.B.-P. A.K. is supported by an EMBO long-term Fellowship.
Present address: Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, CMEB, 58262 Morelia, Mich., Mexico. ![]()
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