High impact information on Su(z)2

• Sequence similarity between the mammalian bmi-1 proto-oncogene and the Drosophila regulatory genes Psc and Su(z)2 [1].
• Telomeric PEV on the second and third chromosomes is suppressed by mutations in Su(z)2, but not by mutations in Su(var)2-5 (encoding HP1), while the converse is true for telomeric PEV on the fourth chromosome [2].
• Arp stimulates in vitro DNA-binding activity of the human transcription factor Jun and Fos by the reduction of a cysteine residue located in the DNA-binding domain [3].
• The bristle abnormalities are associated with overexpression of Suppressor 2 of zeste (Su(z)2) [4].
• We crossed ph alleles to all members of the Polycomb group, and to E(Pc) and Su(z)2 to look for synergistic effects [5].

Biological context of Su(z)2

• The products of Psc and Su(z)2 were immunohistochemically detected at 80-90 sites on polytene chromosomes [6].
• Northern and in situ hybridization analyses show that the mutations result in increased accumulation of the Su(z)2 mRNA, which we argue is responsible for the bristle loss phenotype [7].
• We find that all three juxtapose foreign DNA sequences upstream of the Su(z)2 gene, and that at least two of these mutations (Arp1 and vgD) behave genetically as gain of function mutations in Su(z)2 [7].

Physical interactions of Su(z)2

• However, we have found that mutations in Su(z)2 do interact in a variety of interesting ways with mutations in Pc group genes [8].

Regulatory relationships of Su(z)2

• This P repression effect occurs only in the presence of the zeste allele and is suppressed by Su(z)2 mutations [9].

References