Epigenetic inheritance of active chromatin after removal of the main transactivator.
The Drosophila Polycomb and trithorax group proteins act through chromosomal elements such as Fab-7 to maintain repressed or active gene expression, respectively. A Fab-7 element is switched from a silenced to a mitotically heritable active state by an embryonic pulse of transcription. Here, histone H4 hyperacetylation was found to be associated with Fab-7 after activation, suggesting that H4 hyperacetylation may be a heritable epigenetic tag of the activated element. Activated Fab-7 enables transcription of a gene even after withdrawal of the primary transcription factor. This feature may allow epigenetic maintenance of active states of developmental genes after decay of their early embryonic regulators.
Cavalli
G
G
Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie (ZMBH), Universität of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 282, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Paro
R
R
D000107:Acetylation; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D007763:Lac Operon; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
D002843:Chromatin; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C052130:GAL4 protein, S cerevisiae; D006657:Histones; D019476:Insect Proteins; C066770:Pc protein, Drosophila; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C063460:Trl protein, Drosophila; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1