Su(H) early embryonic ChIP-seq

This submission data was generated in Angela Stathopoulos''s lab. Project goal was to map Su(H) associated regions on Drosophila melanogaster genome. In Drosophila embryos, a nuclear gradient of Dorsal (Dl) directs differential gene expression along the dorsoventral (DV) axis, translating it into distinct domains separated by sharp boundaries between future mesodermal, neural and ectodermal territories. However, the mechanisms used to differentially position gene expression boundaries along this axis are not fully understood. Here, we show that the transcription factor Suppressor of Hairless [Su(H)] influences the positioning of dorsal boundaries for many genes expressed along the DV axis. Synthetic reporter constructs provide molecular evidence that Su(H) binding sites support repression and act to counterbalance activation through Dl and the ubiquitous activator Zelda. Overall, our study highlights a role for broadly expressed repressors, like Su(H), and organization of transcription factor binding sites within cis-regulatory modules as important elements controlling spatial domains of gene expression, to facilitate flexible positioning of boundaries across the entire DV axis. Overall design: 1 g of 2-4 hour yw embryos were used. Two replicate ChIP-seq samples were analyzed using goat (Santa cruz goat polyclonal #sc-15813), and rabbit (Santa cruz rabbit polyclonal #sc-25761) antibodies.