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First published online 11 June 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.023275

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Association of trxG and PcG proteins with the bxd maintenance element depends on transcriptional activity

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
² Department of Biology, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA 19038, USA.

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: Mazo{at}mail.jci.tju.edu)

Accepted 16 May 2008

Polycomb group (PcG) and trithorax group (trxG) proteins act in an epigenetic fashion to maintain active and repressive states of expression of the Hox and other target genes by altering their chromatin structure. Genetically, mutations in trxG and PcG genes can antagonize each other's function, whereas mutations of genes within each group have synergistic effects. Here, we show in Drosophila that multiple trxG and PcG proteins act through the same or juxtaposed sequences in the maintenance element (ME) of the homeotic gene Ultrabithorax. Surprisingly, trxG or PcG proteins, but not both, associate in vivo in any one cell in a salivary gland with the ME of an activated or repressed Ultrabithorax transgene, respectively. Among several trxG and PcG proteins, only Ash1 and Asx require Trithorax in order to bind to their target genes. Together, our data argue that at the single-cell level, association of repressors and activators correlates with gene silencing and activation, respectively. There is, however, no overall synergism or antagonism between and within the trxG and PcG proteins and, instead, only subsets of trxG proteins act synergistically.

Key words: Trithorax, Polycomb, Epigenetic regulation, Maintenance elements, Homeotic genes

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Transcriptional regulation: PcG and trxG take a separate approach

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