Genetics, Vol 140, 139-181, Copyright © 1995

INVESTIGATIONS

A Genetic Analysis of the Suppressor 2 of zeste complex of Drosophila melanogaster

C. T. Wu and M. Howe
Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114 The paper includes data obtained when this author was at the following institutions: Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; SNS, 1530 Notch Rd., Cheshire, CT 06410; Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115.

The zeste(1) (z(1)) mutation of Drosophila melanogaster produces a mutant yellow eye color instead of the wild-type red. Genetic and molecular data suggest that z(1) achieves this change by altering expression of the wild-type white gene in a manner that exhibits transvection effects. There exist suppressor and enhancer mutations that modify the z(1) eye color, and this paper summarizes our studies of those belonging to the Suppressor 2 of zeste complex [Su(z)2-C]. The Su(z)2-C consists of at least three subregions called Psc (Posterior sex combs), Su(z)2 and Su(z)2D (Distal). The products of these subregions are proposed to act at the level of chromatin. Complementation analyses predict that the products are functionally similar and interacting. The alleles of Psc define two overlapping phenotypic classes, the hopeful and hapless. The distinctions between these two classes and the intragenic complementation seen among some of the Psc alleles are consistent with a multidomain structure for the product of Psc. Psc is a member of the homeotic Polycomb group of genes. A general discussion of the Polycomb and trithorax group of genes, position-effect variegation, transvection, chromosome pairing and chromatin structure is presented.

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