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Originally published in Science Express on 27 November 2008
Science 9 January 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5911, pp. 248 - 251
DOI: 10.1126/science.1165678
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Reports

Drosophila Stem Cells Share a Common Requirement for the Histone H2B Ubiquitin Protease Scrawny

Michael Buszczak,* Shelley Paterno, Allan C. Spradling{dagger}

Stem cells within diverse tissues share the need for a chromatin configuration that promotes self-renewal, yet few chromatin proteins are known to regulate multiple types of stem cells. We describe a Drosophila gene, scrawny (scny), encoding a ubiquitin-specific protease, which is required in germline, epithelial, and intestinal stem cells. Like its yeast relative UBP10, Scrawny deubiquitylates histone H2B and functions in gene silencing. Consistent with previous studies of this conserved pathway of chromatin regulation, scny mutant cells have elevated levels of ubiquitinylated H2B and trimethylated H3K4. Our findings suggest that inhibiting H2B ubiquitylation through scny represents a common mechanism within stem cells that is used to repress the premature expression of key differentiation genes, including Notch target genes.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Laboratories, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

* Present address: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Molecular Biology, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: spradling{at}ciwemb.edu

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