DPY-30, a nuclear protein essential early in embryogenesis for Caenorhabditis elegans dosage compensation.
DPY-30 is an essential component of the C. elegans dosage compensation machinery that reduces X chromosome transcript levels in hermaphrodites (XX). DPY-30 is required for the sex-specific association of DPY-27 (a chromosome condensation protein homolog) with the hermaphrodite X chromosomes. Loss of dpy-30 activity results in XX-specific lethality. We demonstrate that dpy-30 encodes a novel nuclear protein of 123 amino acids that is present in both hermaphrodites and males (XO) throughout development. DPY-30 itself is not associated with the X chromosomes, nor is its pattern of expression perturbed by mutations in the gene hierarchy that controls dosage compensation. Therefore, DPY-30 is a ubiquitous factor that is likely to promote the hermaphrodite-specific association of DPY-27 with X by affecting the activity of a sex-specific dosage compensation gene. In XO animals, DPY-30 is required for developmental processes other than dosage compensation: coordinated movement, normal body size, correct tail morphology and mating behavior. We demonstrate that rescue of both the XX-specific lethality and the XO-specific morphological defects caused by dpy-30 mutations can be achieved by inducing dpy-30 transcripts either in the mother or in the embryo through the end of gastrulation. dpy-30 appears to be cotranscribed in an operon with a novel RNA-binding protein.
Hsu
D R
DR
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA.
Chuang
P T
PT
Meyer
B J
BJ
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; C090454:DPY-27 protein, C elegans; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C096340:dpy-30 protein, C elegans