Palmer, M.J., Mergner, V.A., Richman, R., Manning, J.E., Kuroda, M.I., Lucchesi, J.C. (1993). The male-specific lethal-one (msl-1) gene of Drosophila melanogaster encodes a novel protein that associates with the X chromosome in males.  Genetics 134(2): 545--557.

FBrf0058602

Research paper

Male-specific lethal-one (msl-1) is one of four genes that are required for dosage compensation in Drosophila males. To determine the molecular basis of msl-1 regulation of dosage compensation, we have cloned the gene and characterized its products. The predicted msl-1 protein (MSL-1) has no significant similarity to proteins in the current data bases but contains an acidic N terminus characteristic of proteins involved in transcription and chromatin modeling. We present evidence that the msl-1 protein is associated with hundreds of sites along the length of the X chromosome in male, but not in female, nuclei. Our findings support the hypothesis that msl-1 plays a direct role in increasing the level of X-linked gene transcription in male nuclei.

PMC1205497 (PMC) (EuropePMC)