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Abstract
More than a dozen trithorax group (trxG) proteins are involved in activation of Drosophila HOX genes. How they act coordinately to integrate signals from distantly located enhancers is not fully understood. The female sterile (1) homeotic (fs(1)h) gene is one of the trxG genes that is most critical for Ultrabithorax (Ubx) activation. We show that one of the two double-bromodomain proteins encoded by fs(1)h acts as an essential factor in the Ubx proximal promoter. First, overexpression of the small isoform FSH-S, but not the larger one, can induce ectopic expression of HOX genes and cause body malformation. Second, FSH-S can stimulate Ubx promoter in cultured cells through a critical proximal region in a bromodomain-dependent manner. Third, purified FSH-S can bind specifically to a motif within this region that was previously known as the ZESTE site. The physiological relevance of FSH-S is ascertained using transgenic embryos containing a modified Ubx proximal promoter and chromatin immunoprecipitation. In addition, we show that FSH-S is involved in phosphorylation of itself and other regulatory factors. We suggest that FSH-S acts as a critical component of a regulatory circuitry mediating long-range effects of distant enhancers.
We are very grateful to the following people for providing reagents and flies: M. Biggin, D. Brower, I. Dawid, S. Haynes, D. Hogness, M. Koelle, M. Krasnow, J. Laney, P. Macdonald, J. Manley, V. Pirrotta, F. Sauer, M. Scott, A. Shearn, and the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center. We acknowledge that FSH antibodies were generated in I. Dawid's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health.
This work was supported by grants to D.-H.H. from Academia Sinica and National Science Council, Republic of China (grants NSC 83-0412-B-001-069, 84-2311-B-001-045, and 85-2311-B-001-010) and in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.