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Genome-wide errant targeting by Hairy.
Kurtulus Kok1, Ahmet Ay2, Li M Li3
1Genetics Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States.
Elife
|August 26, 2015
Summary
The Hairy repressor modifies chromatin in Drosophila embryos, affecting gene expression and histone marks. Surprisingly, Hairy targets many sites without altering gene activity, suggesting a role in creating new regulatory elements.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Epigenetics
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Metazoan transcriptional repressors are crucial for regulating gene expression via histone modifications.
- Understanding individual factor contributions to the developmental chromatin landscape is challenging due to complex interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the conserved Hairy repressor's role in chromatin modification and gene expression during Drosophila embryogenesis.
- To analyze the context-specific effects of Hairy on histone marks and target genes.
Main Methods:
- Studied histone marks and gene expression in Drosophila embryos.
- Analyzed the conserved Hairy/Enhancer of Split family repressor Hairy.
Main Results:
- Hairy mediates histone acetylation and methylation in large blocks with context-specific gene effects.
- Hairy displays biochemical activity at numerous loci without altering gene expression.
- Many targeted regions show "errant" Hairy activity, modifying the chromatin landscape.
Conclusions:
- Identification of active cis-regulatory elements requires methods beyond standard chromatin mark surveys.
- Hairy's non-gene-regulatory activity may facilitate the evolution of new transcriptional circuits.
