Cowell I G, Austin C A
Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, Medical School, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1997 Feb 8;1337(2):198-206. doi: 10.1016/s0167-4838(96)00165-3.
The chromo domain is a sequence motif first recognised in the Drosophila polycomb protein and heterochromatin protein (HP1), two proteins associated with stable and heritable transcriptional silencing. Polycomb is one of a number of genes that are required to prevent ectopic homeotic gene expression in Drosophila, while HP1, the product of the Drosophila melanogaster Su(var)205 gene, is associated with the phenomenon of position effect variegation. These proteins are believed to be components of chromatin-associated multi-protein complexes that bring about stable transcriptional silencing and the chromo domain has been implicated in chromatin targeting, probably through protein-protein interaction. Recently, mammalian homologues of both polycomb and HP1 have been described. Here we demonstrate for the first time that oligopeptides containing a chromo domain derived from the mouse polycomb homologue M33 form multimeric complexes in solution, supporting the role of the chromo domain in multiprotein complex assembly.
染色体结构域是一种序列基序，最初在果蝇的多梳蛋白和异染色质蛋白（HP1）中被识别，这两种蛋白与稳定且可遗传的转录沉默相关。多梳蛋白是果蝇中防止异位同源异型基因表达所需的多个基因之一，而HP1是果蝇黑腹果蝇Su(var)205基因的产物，与位置效应斑驳现象相关。这些蛋白被认为是染色质相关多蛋白复合物的组成部分，可导致稳定的转录沉默，并且染色体结构域可能通过蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用参与染色质靶向。最近，已经描述了多梳蛋白和HP1的哺乳动物同源物。在这里，我们首次证明，含有源自小鼠多梳蛋白同源物M33的染色体结构域的寡肽在溶液中形成多聚体复合物，支持染色体结构域在多蛋白复合物组装中的作用。
