Chip and Apterous Physically Interact to Form a Functional Complex during Drosophila Development

• Published in: Molecular cell Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 259 - 265
• Main Authors: van Meyel, Donald J, O'Keefe, David D, Jurata, Linda W, Thor, Stefan, Gill, Gordon N, Thomas, John B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-08-1999
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Dimerization; Drosophila; Drosophila - genetics; Drosophila - growth & development; Drosophila - physiology; Drosophila Proteins; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genes, Reporter; Homeodomain Proteins; Insect Proteins - metabolism; LIM-Homeodomain Proteins; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Wings, Animal - abnormalities; Wings, Animal - growth & development
• ISSN: 1097-2765; 1097-4164
• DOI: 10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80373-1

LIM homeodomain (LIM-HD) proteins play key roles in a variety of developmental processes throughout the animal kingdom. Here we show that the LIM-binding protein Chip acts as a cofactor for the
Drosophila LIM-HD family member Apterous (Ap) in wing development. We define the domains of Chip required for LIM-HD binding and for homodimerization and show that mutant proteins deleted for these domains act in a dominant-negative fashion to disrupt Ap function. Our results support a model for multimeric complexes containing Chip and Ap in transcriptional regulation. This model is confirmed by the activity of a chimeric fusion between Chip and Ap that reconstitutes the complex and rescues the
ap mutant phenotype.