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Molecular and Cellular Biology, November 2002, p. 8026-8034, Vol. 22, No. 22
0270-7306/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.22.22.8026-8034.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transcription through Intergenic Chromosomal Memory Elements of the Drosophila Bithorax Complex Correlates with an Epigenetic Switch

Gerhard Rank, Matthias Prestel, and Renato Paro*

Center for Molecular Biology Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Received 8 May 2002/ Returned for modification 16 July 2002/ Accepted 6 August 2002

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.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Center for Molecular Biology Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 282, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Phone: 49 6221 546878. Fax: 49 6221 546891. E-mail: paro{at}sun0.urz.uni-heidelberg.de.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, November 2002, p. 8026-8034, Vol. 22, No. 22
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.22.22.8026-8034.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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