Activation of transcription through histone H4 acetylation by MOF, an acetyltransferase essential for dosage compensation in Drosophila.
Akhtar A, Becker PB.
The Gene Expression Programme, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany.
Dosage compensation in Drosophila involves a 2-fold increase in transcription from the single male X relative to the two female X chromosomes. Regulation at the level of the chromosome involves alterations in chromatin organization: male X chromosomes appear decondensed and are marked by acetylation of histone H4 at lysine 16. We demonstrate that MOF, a protein required for dosage compensation with significant sequence similarity to the MYST family of acetyltransferases, is a histone acetyltransferase that acetylates chromatin specifically at histone H4 lysine 16. This acetylation relieves chromatin-mediated repression of transcription in vitro and in vivo if MOF is targeted to a promoter by fusion to a DNA-binding domain. Acetylation of chromatin by MOF, therefore, appears to be causally involved in transcriptional activation during dosage compensation.
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PMID: 10882077 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]