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PMID: 1353445 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Polycomb and polyhomeotic are constituents of a multimeric protein complex in chromatin of Drosophila melanogaster.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 11 ·No. 8 ·1992-08-00 ·Pages 2941-50

Franke A, DeCamillis M, Zink D, Cheng N, Brock HW, Paro R

Abstract

The polycomb group (Pc-G) genes are responsible for maintaining the repressed state of homeotic genes during development. It has been suggested that the Pc-G exerts its transcriptional control by regulating higher order chromatin structure. In particular, the finding of genetic and molecular similarities to components involved in heterochromatin formation, led to the proposal that homeotic genes are permanently repressed by mechanisms similar to those responsible for heterochromatin compaction. Because of synergistic effects, Pc-G gene products are thought to act in a multimeric complex. Using immunoprecipitation we show that two members of the Pc-G, Polycomb and polyhomeotic, are constituents of a soluble multimeric protein complex. Size fractionation indicates that a large portion of the two proteins are found in a distinct complex of molecular weight 2-5 x 10(6) Da. During embryogenesis the two proteins show the same spatial distribution. In addition, by double-immunofluorescence labelling we can demonstrate that Polycomb and polyhomeotic have exactly the same binding patterns on polytene chromosomes of larval salivary glands. We propose that some Pc-G proteins act in multimeric complexes to compact the chromatin of stably repressed genes like the homeotic regulators.

MeSH Terms
Animals Cell Nucleus/physiology Chromatin/physiology DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics,isolation & purification Drosophila Proteins Drosophila melanogaster/embryology,genetics Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel Embryo, Nonmammalian/physiology Fluorescent Antibody Technique Genes, Homeobox Insect Hormones/genetics Macromolecular Substances Molecular Weight Multigene Family Nuclear Proteins/genetics,isolation & purification Nucleoproteins/genetics,isolation & purification Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 Proteins/genetics,isolation & purification
Chemicals
Chromatin DNA-Binding Proteins Drosophila Proteins Insect Hormones Macromolecular Substances Nuclear Proteins Nucleoproteins Pc protein, Drosophila Proteins ph-d protein, Drosophila Polycomb Repressive Complex 1
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Franke A
ZMBH, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
DeCamillis M
Zink D
Cheng N
Brock H W
Paro R
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
Published
1992-08-00
Pages
2941-50
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC556776
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source PMC Full Text View journal details
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