Drosophila heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1)/origin recognition complex (ORC) protein is associated with HP1 and ORC and functions in heterochromatin-induced silencing.

ABSTRACT: Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) is a conserved component of the highly compact chromatin of higher eukaryotic centromeres and telomeres. Cytogenetic experiments in Drosophila have shown that HP1 localization into this chromatin is perturbed in mutants for the origin recognition complex (ORC) 2 subunit. ORC has a multisubunit DNA-binding activity that binds origins of DNA replication where it is required for origin firing. The DNA-binding activity of ORC is also used in the recruitment of the Sir1 protein to silence nucleation sites flanking silent copies of the mating-type genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A fraction of HP1 in the maternally loaded cytoplasm of the early Drosophila embryo is associated with a multiprotein complex containing Drosophila melanogaster ORC subunits. This compl

SUBMITTER: Shareef MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC37332 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature