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Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2008, p. 1047-1060, Vol. 28, No. 3
0270-7306/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.01622-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Stage-Specific Factor Confers Fab-7 Boundary Activity during Early Embryogenesis in Drosophila{triangledown}

Tsutomu Aoki, Susan Schweinsberg,{dagger} Julia Manasson,{ddagger} and Paul Schedl*

Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

Received 3 September 2007/ Returned for modification 1 November 2007/ Accepted 12 November 2007

The Fab-7 boundary is required to ensure that the iab-6 and iab-7 cis-regulatory domains in the Drosophila Bithorax complex can function autonomously. Though Fab-7 functions as a boundary from early embryogenesis through to the adult stage, this constitutive boundary activity depends on subelements whose activity is developmentally restricted. In the studies reported here, we have identified a factor, called early boundary activity (Elba), that confers Fab-7 boundary activity during early embryogenesis. The Elba factor binds to a recognition sequence within a Fab-7 subelement that has enhancer-blocking activity during early embryogenesis, but not during mid-embryogenesis or in the adult. We found that the Elba factor is present in early embryos but largely disappears during mid-embryogenesis. We show that mutations in the Elba recognition sequence that eliminate Elba binding in nuclear extracts disrupt the early boundary activity of the Fab-7 subelement. Conversely, we find that early boundary activity can be reconstituted by multimerizing the Elba recognition site.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. Phone: (609) 258-5003. Fax: (609) 258-1028. E-mail: pschedl{at}princeton.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 26 November 2007.

{dagger} Present address: Chandrika, Biscayne Bay, FL.

{ddagger} Present address: Boston University Medical School, Boston, MA.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2008, p. 1047-1060, Vol. 28, No. 3
0270-7306/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.01622-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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