Drosophila Pgc protein inhibits P-TEFb recruitment to chromatin in primordial germ cells.

ABSTRACT: Germ cells are the only cells that transmit genetic information to the next generation, and they therefore must be prevented from differentiating inappropriately into somatic cells. A common mechanism by which germline progenitors are protected from differentiation-inducing signals is a transient and global repression of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)-dependent transcription. In both Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, the repression of messenger RNA transcription during germ cell specification correlates with an absence of phosphorylation of Ser 2 residues in the carboxy-terminal domain of RNAPII (hereafter called CTD), a critical modification for transcriptional elongation. Here we show that, in Drosophila embryos, a small protein encoded by polar granule component (pgc) is essent

SUBMITTER: Hanyu-Nakamura K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2719856 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature