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Recruitment of Drosophila Polycomb group proteins to chromatin by DSP1

Nature volume 434, pages 533–538 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Polycomb and trithorax group (PcG and trxG) proteins maintain silent and active transcriptional states, respectively, throughout development1. In Drosophila, PcG and trxG proteins associate with DNA regions named Polycomb and trithorax response elements (PRE and TRE), but the mechanisms of recruitment are unknown. We previously characterized a minimal element from the regulatory region of the Abdominal-B gene, termed Ab-Fab. Ab-Fab contains a PRE and a TRE and is able to maintain repressed or active chromatin states during development2. Here we show that the Dorsal switch protein 1 (DSP1), a Drosophila HMGB2 homologue, binds to a sequence present within Ab-Fab and in other characterized PREs. Addition of this motif to an artificial sequence containing Pleiohomeotic and GAGA factor consensus sites is sufficient for PcG protein recruitment in vivo. Mutations that abolish DSP1 binding to Ab-Fab and to a PRE from the engrailed locus lead to loss of PcG protein binding, loss of silencing, and switching of these PREs into constitutive TREs. The binding of DSP1 to PREs is therefore important for the recruitment of PcG proteins.

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Figure 1: The G(A) motif contributes to the recruitment of PcG proteins.
Figure 2: The G(A) motif is required for PcG-mediated silencing and for PH recruitment in natural PREs.
Figure 3: Binding of DSP1 in the Fab-7 region.
Figure 4: DSP1 participates in PcG-mediated repression.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is dedicated to N. Riccò. We thank all laboratory members for input during the course of this work and for critical reading of the manuscript; F. Juge for developing the goat anti-PH antibody; P. Atger for artwork; R. Paro for the gift of rabbit anti-PH antibody; and V. Pirrotta for the gifts of anti-PHO and anti-E(Z). J.D and A.R. were supported by fellowships from the ‘Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche’ and by a grant from ‘La ligue nationale contre le cancer’. O.C. is supported by an HFSPO long-term fellowship. D.L. and M.D. are supported by grants from the CNRS. Research in the Cavalli laboratory is supported by grants from the CNRS, the HFSPO, the 6th EU Framework Project, the ‘Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale’, the ‘Fondation Schlumberger pour l'Éducation et la Recherche’ and the ‘Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, 141 rue de la Cardonille, F-34396, Montpellier, Cedex 5, France

    Jérôme Déjardin, Olivier Cuvier, Charlotte Grimaud & Giacomo Cavalli

  2. Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS/Université d'Orléans, rue C. Sadron, F-45071, Orleans, Cedex 2, France

    Aurélien Rappailles, Martine Decoville & Daniel Locker

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  7. Giacomo Cavalli
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Correspondence to Giacomo Cavalli.

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The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure S1

PH recruitment to AbGAFm and AbPHOm. (PDF 256 kb)

Supplementary Figure S2

PHO recruitment to Ab-Fab and derivative constructs. (PDF 213 kb)

Supplementary Figure S3

Pairing sensitive effects correlate with GAF recruitment. (PDF 226 kb)

Supplementary Figure S4

E(Z) recruitment to Ab-Fab and derivative constructs. (PDF 203 kb)

Supplementary Figure S5

In vitro binding of DSP1 to the G(A) motif present into Ab-Fab. (PDF 642 kb)

Supplementary Figure S6

Effects of dsp11 background on PSA. (PDF 363 kb)

Supplementary Figure S7

dsp1 mutation affects PH recruitment at Ab-Fab (PDF 161 kb)

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Déjardin, J., Rappailles, A., Cuvier, O. et al. Recruitment of Drosophila Polycomb group proteins to chromatin by DSP1. Nature 434, 533–538 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03386

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