H3K27 modifications define segmental regulatory domains in the Drosophila bithorax complex

  1. Sarah K Bowman
  2. Aimee M Deaton
  3. Heber Domingues
  4. Peggy I Wang
  5. Ruslan I Sadreyev
  6. Robert E Kingston  Is a corresponding author
  7. Welcome Bender
  1. Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  2. Harvard Medical School, United States

Abstract

The bithorax complex (BX-C) in Drosophila melanogaster is a cluster of homeotic genes that determine body segment identity. Expression of these genes is governed by cis-regulatory domains, one for each parasegment. Stable repression of these domains depends on Polycomb Group (PcG) functions, which include trimethylation of lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3). To search for parasegment-specific signatures that reflect PcG function, chromatin from single parasegments was isolated and profiled. The H3K27me3 profiles across the BX-C in successive parasegments showed a 'stairstep' pattern that revealed sharp boundaries of the BX-C regulatory domains. Acetylated H3K27 was broadly enriched across active domains, in a pattern complementary to H3K27me3. The CCCTC-binding protein (CTCF) bound the borders between H3K27 modification domains; it was retained even in parasegments where adjacent domains lack H3K27me3. These findings provide a molecular definition of the homeotic domains, and implicate precisely positioned H3K27 modifications as a central determinant of segment identity.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Sarah K Bowman

    Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Aimee M Deaton

    Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Heber Domingues

    Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Peggy I Wang

    Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Ruslan I Sadreyev

    Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Robert E Kingston

    Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    For correspondence
    kingston@molbio.mgh.harvard.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Welcome Bender

    Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Copyright

© 2014, Bowman et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Sarah K Bowman
  2. Aimee M Deaton
  3. Heber Domingues
  4. Peggy I Wang
  5. Ruslan I Sadreyev
  6. Robert E Kingston
  7. Welcome Bender
(2014)
H3K27 modifications define segmental regulatory domains in the Drosophila bithorax complex
eLife 3:e02833.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02833

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02833

Further reading

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology
    Yan Zhang, Hua Zhang
    Insight

    Long thought to have little relevance to ovarian physiology, the rete ovarii may have a role in follicular dynamics and reproductive health.

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology
    Dilara N Anbarci, Jennifer McKey ... Blanche Capel
    Research Article

    The rete ovarii (RO) is an appendage of the ovary that has been given little attention. Although the RO appears in drawings of the ovary in early versions of Gray’s Anatomy, it disappeared from recent textbooks, and is often dismissed as a functionless vestige in the adult ovary. Using PAX8 immunostaining and confocal microscopy, we characterized the fetal development of the RO in the context of the mouse ovary. The RO consists of three distinct regions that persist in adult life, the intraovarian rete (IOR), the extraovarian rete (EOR), and the connecting rete (CR). While the cells of the IOR appear to form solid cords within the ovary, the EOR rapidly develops into a convoluted tubular epithelium ending in a distal dilated tip. Cells of the EOR are ciliated and exhibit cellular trafficking capabilities. The CR, connecting the EOR to the IOR, gradually acquires tubular epithelial characteristics by birth. Using microinjections into the distal dilated tip of the EOR, we found that luminal contents flow toward the ovary. Mass spectrometry revealed that the EOR lumen contains secreted proteins potentially important for ovarian function. We show that the cells of the EOR are closely associated with vasculature and macrophages, and are contacted by neuronal projections, consistent with a role as a sensory appendage of the ovary. The direct proximity of the RO to the ovary and its integration with the extraovarian landscape suggest that it plays an important role in ovary development and homeostasis.