Drosophila COP9 Signalosome Subunit 7 interacts with multiple genomic loci

The COP9 signalosome protein complex has a central role in the regulation of development of multi-cellular organisms. While the function of this complex in ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation is well established, results over the past few years have hinted that the COP9 signalosome may function more broadly in the regulation of gene expression. Here, using DamID technology, we show that COP9 signalosome subunit 7 functionally associates with a large number of genomic loci in the Drosophila genome, and show that the expression of many genes within these loci is COP9 signalosome-dependent. This association is likely direct as we show CSN7 binds DNA in vitro. The genes targeted by CSN7 are preferentially enriched for transcriptionally active regions of the genome, and are involved in the regulation of distinct gene ontology groupings including imaginal disc development and cell-cycle control. DamID experiments were done in Drosophila Kc167 cells. Samples were hybridized to 380k NimbleGen arrays with 300 bp probe spacing. The experiment contains 4 samples, three biological replicates and one reverse dye orientation. For each sample Dam-fusion material was hybridized over Dam-only material.