Abstract
In Drosophila, the Polycomb group (PcG) of genes is required for the maintenance of homeotic gene repression during development. Here, we have characterized the Drosophila ortholog of the products of the mammalian Ring1/Ring1A and Rnf2/Ring1B genes. We show that Drosophila Ring corresponds to the Sex combs extra (Sce), a previously described PcG gene. We find that Ring/Sce is expressed and required throughout development and that the extreme Pc embryonic phenotype due to the lack of maternal and zygotic Sce can be rescued by ectopic expression of Ring/Sce. This phenotypic rescue is also obtained by ectopic expression of the murine Ring1/Ring1A, suggesting a functional conservation of the proteins during evolution. In addition, we find that Ring/Sce binds to about 100 sites on polytene chromosomes, 70% of which overlap those of other PcG products such as Polycomb, Posterior sex combs and Polyhomeotic, and 30% of which are unique. We also show that Ring/Sce interacts directly with PcG proteins, as it occurs in mammals.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Antennapedia Homeodomain Protein
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Chromosomes / genetics
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Chromosomes / metabolism
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Cloning, Molecular
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DNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry*
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DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
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DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
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Drosophila Proteins / chemistry*
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Drosophila melanogaster / embryology
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Drosophila melanogaster / genetics*
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Drosophila melanogaster / metabolism*
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Embryo, Nonmammalian / embryology
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Embryo, Nonmammalian / metabolism
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Expressed Sequence Tags
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Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
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Homeodomain Proteins / chemistry*
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Homeodomain Proteins / genetics
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Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism
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In Situ Hybridization
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Larva / genetics
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Larva / growth & development
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Larva / metabolism
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Mammals / genetics*
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Mice
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Mutation / genetics
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Nuclear Proteins / chemistry*
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Nuclear Proteins / genetics
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Nuclear Proteins / metabolism
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Phenotype
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Physical Chromosome Mapping
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Polycomb Repressive Complex 1
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Protein Binding
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RNA, Messenger / genetics
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RNA, Messenger / metabolism
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Sequence Alignment
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Sequence Homology*
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Transcription Factors / chemistry*
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Transcription Factors / genetics
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Transcription Factors / metabolism
Substances
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Antennapedia Homeodomain Protein
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Antp protein, Drosophila
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Drosophila Proteins
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Homeodomain Proteins
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Nuclear Proteins
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Pc protein, Drosophila
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RNA, Messenger
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Transcription Factors
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Polycomb Repressive Complex 1
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Ring1 protein, mouse