Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: To ensure that the embryo can package exponentially increasing amounts of DNA, replication-dependent histones are some of the earliest transcribed genes from the zygotic genome. However, how the histone genes are identified is not known. The pioneer factors Zelda and CLAMP collaborate at a subset of genes to regulate zygotic genome activation in Drosophila melanogaster and target early activated genes to induce transcription. CLAMP also regulates the embryonic histone genes and helps establish the histone locus body, a suite of factors that controls histone mRNA biosynthesis. The relationship between Zelda and CLAMP led us to hypothesize that Zelda helps identify histone genes for early embryonic expression. We found that Zelda targets the histone locus early during embryogenesis, prior to histone gene expression. However, depletion of zelda in the early embryo does not affect histone mRNA levels or histone locus body formation. While surprising, these results concur with other investigations into Zelda’s role in the early embryo, suggesting the earliest factors responsible for specifying the zygotic histone genes remain undiscovered.
Source: Molecular Biology of the Cell
Authors: Tommy O'Haren, Tsutomu Aoki, Leila E. Rieder
Institutions: Emory University, Princeton University
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics, G1414687178, G1823531124, G322384521, NRSA in Genetics, Winship Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant, G484349596, G5753304942, Mechanisms of Nuclear Body Formation in the Early Embryo, G9000089312, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center at Indiana University, Developmental regulation of histone genes by pioneer factors and three-dimensional architecture
OpenAlex ID: W4405285842