The role of the trithorax group TnaA isoforms in Hox gene expression, and in Drosophila late development

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 29;13(10):e0206587. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206587. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Regulation of developmental gene expression in eukaryotes involves several levels. One of them is the maintenance of gene expression along the life of the animal once it is started by different triggers early in development. One of the questions in the field is when in developmental time, the animal start to use the different maintenance mechanisms. The trithorax group (TrxG) of genes was first characterized as essential for maintaining homeotic gene expression. The TrxG gene tonalli interacts genetically and physically with genes and subunits of the BRAHMA BAP chromatin remodeling complex and encodes TnaA proteins with putative E3 SUMO-ligase activity. In contrast to the phenocritic lethal phase of animals with mutations in other TrxG genes, tna mutant individuals die late in development. In this study we determined the requirements of TnaA for survival at pupal and adult stages, in different tna mutant genotypes where we corroborate the lack of TnaA proteins, and the presence of adult homeotic loss-of-function phenotypes. We also investigated whether the absence of TnaA in haltere and leg larval imaginal discs affects the presence of the homeotic proteins Ultrabithorax and Sex combs reduced respectively by using some of the characterized genotypes and more finely by generating TnaA defective clones induced at different stages of development. We found that, tna is not required for growth or survival of imaginal disc cells and that it is a fine modulator of homeotic gene expression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / physiology
  • Carrier Proteins / genetics
  • Carrier Proteins / physiology
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics
  • Drosophila Proteins / physiology
  • Drosophila melanogaster / growth & development*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Genes, Homeobox / physiology*
  • Homeodomain Proteins / genetics
  • Homeodomain Proteins / physiology
  • Imaginal Discs / metabolism
  • Larva / growth & development
  • Male
  • Protein Isoforms / genetics
  • Protein Isoforms / physiology
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / physiology

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Carrier Proteins
  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Homeodomain Proteins
  • Protein Isoforms
  • SCR protein, Arabidopsis
  • Transcription Factors
  • Ubx protein, Drosophila
  • tna protein, Drosophila

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funds from Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (DGAPA), Programa UNAM-PAPIIT grant IN208316 (http://dgapa.unam.mx/index.php/pf-papiit) to MV. MR-V and AH-B are doctoral students from Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Bioquímicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and have scholarships 307929 and 453402 respectively from CONACyT. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.