Drosophila Heterochromatin Stabilization Requires the Zinc-Finger Protein Small Ovary

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Leif Benner, National Institutes of Health; Elias A. Castro, Emory University; Cale Whitworth, National Institutes of Health; Koen J. T. Venken, Baylor College of Medicine; Haiwang Yang, National Institutes of Health; Junnan Fang, Emory University; Brian Oliver, National Institutes of Health; Kevin R. Cook, Indiana University; Dorothy Lerit, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-11-01
• Publisher: GENETICS SOCIETY AMERICA
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2019 Genetics Society of America. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Universal : Public Domain Dedication
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.119.302590
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: GENETICS
• Volume: 213
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 877
• End Page: 895
• Grant/Funding Information: K.R.C. was supported by the National Center for Resource (R24RR014106) and the National Science Foundation (DBI-9816125).; L.B. was supported by the NIH Graduate Partners Program.; D.A.L. and E.A.C. were supported by NIH grant 5K22 HL-126922 (D.A.L.).; K.J.T.V. was supported by Baylor College of Medicine, the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation, the McNair Medical Institute at The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation (#1-FY14-315), the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FT2016-002), the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (R1313), and NIH grants 1R21 HG-006726, 1R21 GM-110190, 1R21 OD-022981, and R01 GM-109938).; This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH NIDDK (awarded to B.O.).; C.W. and K.R.C. were supported by the Office of the NIH Director, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the NICHD (P40 OD-018537).
• Keywords: POSITION-EFFECT VARIEGATION; RNA-SEQ; METHYLATION; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; HP1a; Genetics & Heredity; Science & Technology; position-effect variegation; BINDING PROTEIN; MELANOGASTER; PIRNA; OOGENESIS; sov zinc-finger; heterochromatin; gene expression; SUPPRESSOR; oogenesis; GENE-EXPRESSION; NONHISTONE CHROMOSOMAL-PROTEIN
• Research Categories: Biology, Genetics; Biology, Cell; Health Sciences, Pharmacology

Abstract

Heterochromatin-mediated repression is essential for controlling the expression of transposons and for coordinated cell type-specific gene regulation. The small ovary (sov) locus was identified in a screen for female-sterile mutations in Drosophila melanogaster, and mutants show dramatic ovarian morphogenesis defects. We show that the null sov phenotype is lethal and map the locus to the uncharacterized gene CG14438, which encodes a nuclear zinc-finger protein that colocalizes with the essential Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1a). We demonstrate Sov functions to repress inappropriate gene expression in the ovary, silence transposons, and suppress position-effect variegation in the eye, suggesting a central role in heterochromatin stabilization.