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Co-transcriptional architecture in a Y loop in Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

The Y loops of Drosophila spermatocytes are formed by the expression of huge individual transcription units on the Y chromosome and their large size provides a unique system for the investigation of the organisation of transcription in intact nuclei. By labelling ribonucleo-protein (RNP) components, the loop chromatin and nascent transcripts in Y loop C, we reveal a highly structured organisation of RNP domains associated with nascent transcripts. We distinguish two types of RNP domain, a proximal domain that runs alongside the chromatin of loop C and a distal RNP domain that wraps around the proximal domain and the loop chromatin. The proximal domain is marked by the Pasilla protein, and separate distal subdomains are marked by the S5 antigen and Boule. We discuss the implications of this highly structured co-transcriptional architecture for the organisation of the process of transcription.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Kate Beckingham, Harald Saumweber and Steve Wasserman for antibodies. We thank Sarah Bray, Dennis Bray, Alena Krejci and Stephen Young for their comments on the manuscript. The project was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DY, UK

    Juliet L. Redhouse, Julien Mozziconacci & Robert A. H. White

  2. Laboratoire de physique theorique de la matiere condensee, Tour 24, Boîte 121, 4, Place Jussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Julien Mozziconacci

Authors
  1. Juliet L. Redhouse
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  2. Julien Mozziconacci
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  3. Robert A. H. White
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Correspondence to Robert A. H. White.

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Communicated by S. Pimpinelli

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Redhouse, J.L., Mozziconacci, J. & White, R.A.H. Co-transcriptional architecture in a Y loop in Drosophila melanogaster . Chromosoma 120, 399–407 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-011-0321-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-011-0321-1

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