Dosage compensation proteins targeted to X chromosomes by a determinant of hermaphrodite fate.
In many organisms, master control genes coordinately regulate sex-specific aspects of development. SDC-2 was shown to induce hermaphrodite sexual differentiation and activate X chromosome dosage compensation in Caenorhabditis elegans. To control these distinct processes, SDC-2 acts as a strong gene-specific repressor and a weaker chromosome-wide repressor. To initiate hermaphrodite development, SDC-2 associates with the promoter of the male sex-determining gene her-1 to repress its transcription. To activate dosage compensation, SDC-2 triggers assembly of a specialized protein complex exclusively on hermaphrodite X chromosomes to reduce gene expression by half. SDC-2 can localize to X chromosomes without other components of the dosage compensation complex, suggesting that SDC-2 targets dosage compensation machinery to X chromosomes.
Dawes
H E
HE
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA.
Berlin
D S
DS
Lapidus
D M
DM
Nusbaum
C
C
Davis
T L
TL
Meyer
B J
BJ
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019849:Sex Determination Processes; D019076:Transgenes; D014960:X Chromosome / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C079666:Sdc-3 protein, C elegans; C079744:her-1 protein, C elegans