The Drosophila cohesin subunit Rad21 is a trithorax group (trxG) protein
- Graham Hallson†,
- Monika Syrzycka†,
- Samantha A. Beck‡,
- James A. Kennison§,
- Dale Dorsett¶,
- Scott L. Page‖,
- Sally M. Hunter‖,
- Rebecca Keall‖,
- William D. Warren‖,
- Hugh W. Brock‡,
- Donald A. R. Sinclair†, and
- Barry M. Honda†,††
- †Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6;
- ‡Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4;
- §Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-2785;
- ¶Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63104; and
- ‖Comparative Genomics Centre, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Queensland, Australia
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Edited by Kathryn V. Anderson, Sloan-Kettering Institute, New York, NY, and approved June 3, 2008 (received for review February 20, 2008)
Abstract
The cohesin complex is a key player in regulating cell division. Cohesin proteins SMC1, SMC3, Rad21, and stromalin (SA), along with associated proteins Nipped-B, Pds5, and EcoI, maintain sister chromatid cohesion before segregation to daughter cells during anaphase. Recent chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) data reveal extensive overlap of Nipped-B and cohesin components with RNA polymerase II binding at active genes in Drosophila. These and other data strongly suggest a role for cohesion in transcription; however, there is no clear evidence for any specific mechanisms by which cohesin and associated proteins regulate transcription. We report here a link between cohesin components and trithorax group (trxG) function, thus implicating these proteins in transcription activation and/or elongation. We show that the Drosophila Rad21 protein is encoded by verthandi (vtd), a member of the trxG gene family that is also involved in regulating the hedgehog (hh) gene. In addition, mutations in the associated protein Nipped-B show similar trxG activity i.e., like vtd, they act as dominant suppressors of Pc and hhMrt without impairing cell division. Our results provide a framework to further investigate how cohesin and associated components might regulate transcription.
Footnotes
- ††To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: honda{at}sfu.ca
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Author contributions: G.H., M.S., S.A.B., J.A.K., D.D., S.L.P., W.D.W., H.W.B., D.A.R.S., and B.M.H. designed research; G.H., M.S., S.A.B., J.A.K., S.L.P., S.M.H., R.K., and D.A.R.S. performed research; D.D. and R.K. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; G.H., M.S., S.A.B., J.A.K., D.D., S.L.P., W.D.W., H.W.B., D.A.R.S., and B.M.H. analyzed data; and G.H., M.S., S.A.B., J.A.K., D.D., S.L.P., W.D.W., H.W.B., D.A.R.S., and B.M.H. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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See Commentary on page 12097.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0801698105/DCSupplemental.
- © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
