Reuter Lab Profile

Research Focus: Genetic Dissection of Epigenetic Control Processes

Position-effect variegation (PEV) in Drosophila melanogaster represents a useful experimental system for identification and molecular characterisation of genes controlling higher order chromatin regulation. In PEV euchromatic genes become clonally silenced as a result of their placement into a new neighbourhood of heterochromatin. Isolation of dominant suppressor [Su(var)] and enhancer [E(var)] mutations allowed identification of more than 150 genes causally connected with control of higher order chromatin structure. First molecular analysis of these genes already allowed identification of key components involved in heterochromatin formation like histone H3K9 methyltransferase SU(VAR)3-9. Other PEV modifier genes encode components controlling euchromatic structures. Systematic analysis of PEV modifier genes therefore will lead to detailed dissection of molecular processes involved in epigenetic programming. The studies have important implications for the analysis of epigenetic processes in other eukaryotic organisms.