Heterochromatic Silencing and HP1 Localization in Drosophila Are Dependent on the RNAi Machinery
- 30 January 2004
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 303 (5658), 669-672
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1092653
Abstract
Genes normally resident in euchromatic domains are silenced when packaged into heterochromatin, as exemplified in Drosophila melanogaster by position effect variegation (PEV). Loss-of-function mutations resulting in suppression of PEV have identified critical components of heterochromatin, including proteins HP1, HP2, and histone H3 lysine 9 methyltransferase. Here, we demonstrate that this silencing is dependent on the RNA interference machinery, using tandem mini-white arrays and white transgenes in heterochromatin to show loss of silencing as a result of mutations in piwi, aubergine , or spindle-E ( homeless ), which encode RNAi components. These mutations result in reduction of H3 Lys 9 methylation and delocalization of HP1 and HP2, most dramatically in spindle-E mutants.Keywords
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