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Stable chromosomal association of MSL2 defines a dosage-compensated nuclear compartment

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Abstract

Dosage compensation in Drosophila is controlled by a complex (DCC) of proteins and noncoding RNA that binds specifically to the male X chromosome and leads to fine-tuning of transcription. Here, we employ male SL2 cells to characterize DCC function and dynamics during steady state of dosage compensation. Knocking down the key regulator of dosage compensation, male-specific-lethal 2 (MSL2), leads to loss of propagation of histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation and of the twofold elevation of transcription characteristic of the compensated male X chromosome. Surprisingly, lack of dosage compensation does not impair cell viability. Targeting of MSL2 to a reporter gene suffices to initiate dosage compensation in the cell model. Using photobleaching techniques in living cells, we found the association of MSL2 with the X chromosome to be exceptionally stable, essentially excluding dynamic redistribution of the DCC during interphase. This immobility distinguishes MSL2 from most other chromosomal proteins. Our findings have profound implications for the mechanism underlying dosage compensation and furthermore provide a new, conceptual reference of stability in an otherwise highly dynamic nuclear environment.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Mitlöhner and I. Vetter for excellent technical assistance, M. Kuroda for providing antibodies, D. Arndt-Jovin for the SF4 cell line, S. Henikoff for HP1α-GFP expression plasmid, and the Hans and Ilse Breuer Foundation for the Zeiss LSM510 confocal microscope. We are grateful to Cristina Cardoso, Fabio Spada, and members of the laboratory for critical reading of the manuscript and helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through Transregio 5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Adolf Butenandt-Institute, Schillerstr. 44, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Tobias Straub, Martin F. Neumann, Matthias Prestel & Peter B. Becker

  2. Institute for Molecular Immunology, GSF, 81377, Munich, Germany

    Elisabeth Kremmer

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Christoph Kaether & Christian Haass

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  1. Tobias Straub
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  2. Martin F. Neumann
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  6. Christian Haass
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  7. Peter B. Becker
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Correspondence to Peter B. Becker.

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Communicated by E. A. Nigg

Straub and Neumann contributed equally to this work.

Electronic supplementary material

412_2005_20_MOESM1_ESM.mpg

Supplementary movie. MSL2–GFP remains bound to the X chromosome during mitosis. Bright-field and GFP-fluorescence images collected at the indicated time from an SF4 cell line stably expressing MSL2–GFP. Images were merged, time-stamped, and sequentially organized into a movie using NIH ImageJ (MPG 2.011 kb).

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Straub, T., Neumann, M.F., Prestel, M. et al. Stable chromosomal association of MSL2 defines a dosage-compensated nuclear compartment. Chromosoma 114, 352–364 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-005-0020-x

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