AIM To determine the deletion junctions of infertile men in Taiwan with azoospermia factor region c (AZFc) deletions and to evaluate the genotype/phenotype correlation. METHODS Genomic DNAs from 460 infertile men were examined. Bacterial artificial chromosome clones were used to verify the accuracy of polymerase chain reaction. Deletion junctions of the AZFc region were determined by analysis...

Background ATP-dependent nucleosome remodelers influence genetic processes by altering nucleosome occupancy, positioning, and composition. In vitro, yeast imitation switch (ISWI) and chromodomain helicase DNA-binding (CHD) remodelers bind ~30-85 bp of extranucleosomal DNA [1-3]. However, in vivo, ISWI and CHD remodelers act within gene bodies [4], which contain regularly spaced nucleosomes sepa...

Cucurbit[7]uril selectively binds the epigenetic mark N(ε),N(ε),N(ε)-trimethyllysine (LysMe(3), K(CB[7]) = (1.8 ± 0.6)× 10(6) dm(3) mol(-1)) by 3500-fold over lysine ((5.3 ± 0.7) × 10(2) dm(3) mol(-1)) in aqueous solution, using ion-dipole interactions and the hydrophobic effect, rather than cation-π interactions, as in the "aromatic cages" of p-SO(3)-calix[4]arene hosts or chromodomain protein...

We report the design and characterization of two genetically encoded fluorescent reporters of histone protein methylation. The reporters are four-part chimeric proteins consisting of a substrate peptide from the N-terminus of histone H3 fused to a chromodomain (a natural methyllysine-specific recognition domain), sandwiched between a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-capable pair of...

The Drosophila gene Polycomb (Pc) has been implicated in the clonal inheritance of determined states and is a fra/is-regulator of the Antennapedia-like homeobox genes. Pc shares a region of homology (the chromobox) with the Drosophila gene Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1), a component of heterochromatin. The Pc chromobox has been used to isolate a mouse chromobox gene, M33, which encodes a predi...

The chromodomain is a conserved motif that functions in the epigenetic control of gene expression. Here, we report the functional characterization of a chromodomain protein, Chp1, in the heterochromatin assembly in fission yeast. We show that Chp1 is a structural component of three heterochromatic regions-centromeres, the mating-type region, and telomeres-and that its localization in these regi...

The eight mammalian Cbx proteins are chromodomain-containing proteins involved in regulation of heterochromatin, gene expression, and developmental programs. They are evolutionarily related to the Drosophila HP1 (dHP1) and Pc (dPc) proteins that are key components of chromatin-associated complexes capable of recognizing repressive marks such as trimethylated Lys-9 and Lys-27, respectively, on h...