Abstract
Suppressor of Hairless [Su(H)] plays an essential role in neurogenesis in Drosophila by controlling successive alternative cell fate decisions in the developing adult epidermis. Analysis of the predicted amino acid sequence of the Su(H) protein revealed a weak similarity to the catalytic domain of a family of phage integrases and yeast recombinases. We present here the results of a site-directed mutagenesis of the integrase-related region of Su(H), which indicate that this sequence similarity has no functional significance in vivo. We suggest that the JK-RBP protein, encoded by the mouse homologue of Su(H), does not act as a recombinase, as originally proposed.
