dMi-2, a Hunchback-Interacting Protein That Functions in Polycomb Repression

作者：J. Kehle · 发表于：Science · 年份：1998 · DOI：10.1126/science.282.5395.1897 · 被引用次数：352 · 研究领域：Epigenetics and DNA Methylation、Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation、Cancer-related gene regulation

Early in Drosophila embryogenesis, gap gene products directly repress transcription of homeotic (HOX) genes and thereby delimit HOX expression domains. Subsequently, Polycomb-group proteins maintain this repression. Currently, there is no known molecular link between gap and Polycomb-group proteins. Here, dMi-2 is identified as a protein that binds to a domain in the gap protein Hunchback that is specifically required for the repression of HOX genes. Genetic analyses show that dMi-2 participates in both Hunchback and Polycomb repression in vivo. Hence, recruitment of dMi-2 may serve as a link between repression of HOX genes by Hunchback and Polycomb proteins.