The ribosomal protein uL11 is located at the basis of the ribosome P-stalk and plays a paramount role in translational efficiency. In addition, no mutant for uL11 is available suggesting that this gene is haplo-insufficient as many other Ribosomal Protein Genes (RPGs). We have previously shown that overexpression of Drosophila melanogaster uL11 enhances the transcription of many RPGs and Ribosomal Biogenesis genes (RiBis) suggesting that uL11 might globally regulate the level of translation through its transcriptional activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSize trade-offs of visual versus olfactory organs is a pervasive feature of animal evolution. This could result from genetic or functional constraints. We demonstrate that head sensory organ size trade-offs in Drosophila are genetically encoded and arise through differential subdivision of the head primordium into visual versus non-visual fields.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Drosophila, ubiquitous expression of a short Cyclin G isoform generates extreme developmental noise estimated by fluctuating asymmetry (FA), providing a model to tackle developmental stability. This transcriptional cyclin interacts with chromatin regulators of the Enhancer of Trithorax and Polycomb (ETP) and Polycomb families. This led us to investigate the importance of these interactions in developmental stability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are essential for cell cycle regulation and are functionally associated with proteins involved in epigenetic maintenance of transcriptional patterns in various developmental or cellular contexts. Epigenetic maintenance of transcription patterns, notably of Hox genes, requires the conserved Polycomb-group (PcG), Trithorax-group (TrxG), and Enhancer of Trithorax and Polycomb (ETP) proteins, particularly well studied in Drosophila. These proteins form large multimeric complexes that bind chromatin and appose or recognize histone post-translational modifications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMammalian Cyclins G1 and G2 are unconventional cyclins whose role in regulating the cell cycle is ambiguous. Cyclin G1 promotes G2/M cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage whereas ectopic expression of CCNG2, that encodes Cyclin G2, induces G1/S cell cycle arrest. The only Drosophila Cyclin G was previously shown to be a transcriptional regulator that interacts with the chromatin factor Corto and controls expression of the homeotic gene Abdominal B.
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