21 research outputs found

    The Enhancer of Trithorax and Polycomb Corto Interacts with Cyclin G in Drosophila

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    BACKGROUND: Polycomb (PcG) and trithorax (trxG) genes encode proteins involved in the maintenance of gene expression patterns, notably Hox genes, throughout development. PcG proteins are required for long-term gene repression whereas TrxG proteins are positive regulators that counteract PcG action. PcG and TrxG proteins form large complexes that bind chromatin at overlapping sites called Polycomb and Trithorax Response Elements (PRE/TRE). A third class of proteins, so-called "Enhancers of Trithorax and Polycomb" (ETP), interacts with either complexes, behaving sometimes as repressors and sometimes as activators. The role of ETP proteins is largely unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In a two-hybrid screen, we identified Cyclin G (CycG) as a partner of the Drosophila ETP Corto. Inactivation of CycG by RNA interference highlights its essential role during development. We show here that Corto and CycG directly interact and bind to each other in embryos and S2 cells. Moreover, CycG is targeted to polytene chromosomes where it co-localizes at multiple sites with Corto and with the PcG factor Polyhomeotic (PH). We observed that corto is involved in maintaining Abd-B repression outside its normal expression domain in embryos. This could be achieved by association between Corto and CycG since both proteins bind the regulatory element iab-7 PRE and the promoter of the Abd-B gene. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that CycG could regulate the activity of Corto at chromatin and thus be involved in changing Corto from an Enhancer of TrxG into an Enhancer of PcG

    HIV-1 Replication in Langerhans and Interstitial Dendritic Cells Is Inhibited by Neutralizing and Fc-Mediated Inhibitory Antibodies ▿ †

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    Langerhans cells (LCs) and interstitial dendritic cells (IDCs) may be among the first human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) targets after sexual transmission. We generated cells of these types by differentiation of purified CD34+ cord blood cells. After in vitro infection with R5-tropic strains, we obtained similar percentages of infected cells for both dendritic cell (DC) subsets. Moreover, LC infection was not increased by blockage of langerin by antilangerin. These results indicate that, under our experimental conditions, there was no evidence of any preference of HIV replication in LCs versus IDCs. The inhibitory activity of HIV-1-specific IgAs and IgGs against HIV-1 replication in LCs and IDCs was analyzed. We found that neutralizing antibodies inhibit HIV-1 infection of both DC subsets. Interestingly, HIV-1 was inhibited more efficiently by the IgGs than the corresponding IgA, due to an Fcγ receptor-dependent mechanism. Moreover, nonneutralizing inhibitory IgGs were able to inhibit infection of both LCs and IDCs. These results underline the importance of HIV-1 inhibition by the binding of the Fc part of IgGs to Fcγ receptors and suggest that the induction of neutralizing and nonneutralizing inhibitory IgGs in addition to neutralizing IgAs at mucosal sites may contribute to protection against sexual transmission of HIV-1
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