The Drosophila MSL complex mediates dosage compensation by increasing transcription of the single X chromosome in males approximately two-fold. This is accomplished through recognition of the X chromosome and subsequent acetylation of histone H4K16 on X-linked genes. Initial binding to the X is thought to occur at a subset of sites. However, the consensus sequence motif of entry sites (“MSL recognition element” or MRE) is only slightly enriched on the X (~2 fold), and only a fraction of them is utilized by the MSL complex. Here we ask whether chromatin context could distinguish between utilized and non-utilized copies of the motif, by comparing their relative enrichment for histone modifications and chromosomal proteins mapped in the NHGRI modENCODE project. Through a comparative analysis of the chromatin features in male S2 cells, which contain MSL complex, and female Kc cells, which lack the complex, we find that the presence of active chromatin modifications, together with an elevated local GC content in surrounding sequence, has strong predictive value for functional MSL entry sites, independent of MSL binding. We tested these sites for function in Kc cells by RNAi knockdown of Sxl, resulting in induction of MSL complex. We show that ectopic MSL expression in Kc cells leads to H4K16 acetylation around these sites, and a relative increase in X chromosome transcription. Collectively, our results support a model in which a pre-existing active chromatin environment, coincident with H3K36me3, contributes to MSL entry site selection. The consequences of MSL targeting of the male X chromosome include increase in nucleosome lability, enrichment for H4K16 acetylation and JIL-1 kinase, and depletion of linker histone H1 on active X-linked genes. Our finding serves as a model to understand how chromatin and local sequence features are involved in the selection of functional protein binding sites in the genome.
Overall design: The key Drosophila female sex determinant protein, SXL, represses dosage compensation by inhibiting MSL2 translation. Loss of SXL results in the expression, stabilization, and targetting of the MSL complex in female cells. Therefore, depletion of SXL by RNA interference (RNAi) in female Kc cells will lead to a MSL2-dependent increase in transcription from the female X chromosomes, consistent with the induction of dosage compensation. In this experiment, we generated gene expression profiles of Kc cells of control (GFP), Sxl RNAi and Sxl-Msl2 RNAi experiments.
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