Open AccessThe Essential Gene wda Encodes a WD40 Repeat Subunit of Drosophila SAGA Required for Histone H3 Acetylation
Author(s) -
Sebastián Guelman,
Tamaki Suganuma,
Laurence Florens,
Vikki M. Weake,
Selene K. Swanson,
Michael P. Washburn,
Susan M. Abmayr,
Jerry L. Workman
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
molecular and cellular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.14
H-Index - 327
eISSN - 1067-8824
pISSN - 0270-7306
DOI - 10.1128/mcb.00130-06
Subject(s) - biology , acetylation , histone acetyltransferases , histone , genetics , drosophila melanogaster , chromatin , sap30 , saccharomyces cerevisiae , gene , histone h3 , histone h2a , histone code , histone methyltransferase , nucleosome
Histone acetylation provides a switch between transcriptionally repressive and permissive chromatin. By regulating the chromatin structure at specific promoters, histone acetyltransferases (HATs) carry out important functions during differentiation and development of higher eukaryotes. HAT complexes are present in organisms as diverse asSaccharomyces cerevisiae , humans, and flies. For example, the well-studied yeast SAGA is related to three mammalian complexes. We previously identifiedDrosophila melanogaster orthologues of yeast SAGA components Ada2, Ada3, Spt3, and Tra1 and demonstrated that they associate with dGcn5 in a high-molecular-weight complex. To better understand the function ofDrosophila SAGA (dSAGA), we sought to affinity purify and characterize this complex in more detail. A proteomic approach led to the identification of an orthologue of the yeast protein Ada1 and the novel protein encoded byCG4448 , referred to as WDA (w illd ecreasea cetylation). Embryos lacking both alleles of thewda gene exhibited reduced levels of histone H3 acetylation and could not develop into adult flies. Our results point to a critical function of dSAGA and histone acetylation duringDrosophila development.