Study of the association of <i>ouib</i> and <i>nom</i> with heterochromatin in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

Abstract

In Drosophila, a large group of actively transcribed genes is located in pericentromeric heterochromatin. It is assumed that heterochromatic proteins attract transcription factors to gene promoters. Two proteins, ouib and nom, were previously shown to bind to the promoters of the heterochromatic genes nvd and spok. Interestingly, ouib and nom are paralogs of the M1BP protein, which binds to the promoters of euchromatic genes. We have shown that, like M1BP, the quib and nom proteins bind to CP190, which is involved in the recruitment of transcription complexes to promoters. Unlike heterochromatic proteins, ouib and nom do not interact with the major heterochromatic protein HP1a and bind to euchromatic promoters on polytene chromosomes from the larval salivary glands. The results suggest a new mechanism for the recruitment of transcription factors into the heterochromatic compartment of the nucleus.