Conservation of heterochromatin protein 1 function

Heterochromatin represents a cytologically visible state of heritable gene repression. In the past, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the swi6 gene encodes a heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1)-like chromodomain protein that localizes t o heterochromatin domains, including the centromeres, telomeres, and the do nor mating-type loci, and is involved in silencing at these loci, We identi fy here the functional domains of swi6p and demonstrate that the chromodoma in from a mammalian HP1-like protein, M31, can functionally replace that of swi6p, showing that chromodomain function is conserved from yeasts to huma ns. Site-directed mutagenesis, based on a modeled three-dimensional structu re of the swi6p chromodomain, shows that the hydrophobic amino acids which lie in the core of the structure are critical for biological function. Gel filtration, gel overlay experiments, and mass spectroscopy show that HP1 pr oteins can self-associate, and we suggest that it is as oligomers that HP1 proteins are incorporated into heterochromatin complexes that silence gene activity.