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The nuclear organization of Polycomb/Trithorax group response elements in larval tissues of Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

We analysed the nuclear organization of the Polycomb/Trithorax group response element (PRE/TRE) Fab-7 and of other PRE/TREs in larval tissues of D. melanogaster. The results show that pairing/clustering of transgenic and endogenous Fab-7 elements and of other endogenous PRE/TREs occurs only to a limited degree in a highly locus-specific and tissue-specific manner. However, transgenic Fab-7 elements as well as the Fab-7-regulated Abd-B gene and other endogenous loci preferentially occupied defined nuclear regions. Preferred association with the nuclear periphery was observed in the inactive state. However, also in the active state, Fab-7 was often found associated with the nuclear periphery as well as with the boundary of heterochromatin in a fly line- and tissue-specific manner. The boundary between heterochromatin and euchromatin revealed a highly complex architecture in the three-dimensional nuclear space with a close juxtaposition of active and repressed domains. The results suggest that such complex architectures create nuclear microenvironments sustaining specific states of activity of defined PRE/TREs. However, the data also show that the positional behaviour of the transgenic Fab-7 element does not apply to PRE/TREs in general. Altogether, this finding and the highly locus-, tissue-, and fly line-specific behaviour with regard to nuclear positioning and pairing/clustering suggest that the relationships between nuclear organization and functional regulation of PRE/TREs are highly complex and that simple models making general predictions might not be appropriate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Biologie II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Grosshaderner Str. 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Elena Fedorova, Nicolas Sadoni, Jeannette Koch & Daniele Zink

  2. Department of Sensory Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, I.P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Elena Fedorova

  3. Adolf-Butenandt-Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80336, München, Germany

    Ina K. Dahlsveen

  4. Exiqon A/S, 2950, Vedbaek, Denmark

    Ina K. Dahlsveen

  5. GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Institut für Molekulare Immunologie, 81377, München, Germany

    Elisabeth Kremmer

  6. GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Institut für Klinische Molekularbiologie und Tumorgenetik, 81377, München, Germany

    Dirk Eick

  7. Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058, Basel, Switzerland

    Renato Paro

  8. Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, 31 Biopolis Way, The Nanos, #04–01, Singapore, 138669

    Daniele Zink

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  1. Elena Fedorova
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  2. Nicolas Sadoni
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Correspondence to Daniele Zink.

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Fedorova, E., Sadoni, N., Dahlsveen, I.K. et al. The nuclear organization of Polycomb/Trithorax group response elements in larval tissues of Drosophila melanogaster . Chromosome Res 16, 649–673 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-008-1218-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-008-1218-6

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