The SIN3 corepressor serves as a scaffold for the assembly of histone deacetylase (HDAC) complexes. SIN3 and its associated HDAC have been shown to have critical roles in both development and the regulation of cell cycle progression. Although multiple SIN3 isoforms have been reported in simple to complex eukaryotic organisms, the mechanisms by which such isoforms regulate specific biological processes are still largely uncharacterized. To gain insight into how SIN3 isoform-specific function contributes to the growth and development of a metazoan organism, we have affinity-purified two SIN3 isoform-specific complexes, SIN3 187 and 220, from Drosophila S2 cells and embryos. We have identified a number of proteins common to the complexes, including the HDAC RPD3, as well as orthologs of several proteins known to have roles in regulating cell proliferation in other organisms. We additionally identified factors, including the histone demethylase little imaginal discs and histoneinteracting protein p55, that exhibited a preferential interaction with the largest SIN3 isoform. Our experiments indicate that the isoforms are associated with distinct HDAC activity and are recruited to unique and shared sites along polytene chromosome arms. Furthermore, although expression of SIN3 220 can substitute for genetic loss of other isoforms, expression of SIN3 187 does not support Drosophila viability. Together our findings suggest that SIN3 isoforms serve distinct roles in transcriptional regulation by partnering with different histone-modifying enzymes.
Transcriptional regulation by SIN3 histone deacetylase (HDAC)2 complexes is essential for a number of important biological processes. For instance, SIN3 complexes are required for viability, as demonstrated by the finding that mutations in SIN3 result in embryonic lethality in both Drosophila and mouse (1-4). Furthermore, genome-wide localization and gene expression studies have mapped the SIN3 regulatory network to include nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and function (5), genes involved in DNA replication and repair (6), and genes involved in development (2, 5, 6). Additionally, functional studies in both Drosophila and mammalian systems have shown that SIN3 is an important factor in the regulation of cell cycle progression and exit (2, 3, 7-10). Together, these studies highlight the importance of SIN3 in both growth and development.The SIN3 corepressor serves as a scaffold for the assembly of HDAC complexes. These complexes are recruited to chromatin, where the catalytic subunit, RPD3 in yeast and Drosophila and HDAC1 and -2 in mammals, deacetylates histones to repress transcription (11,12). Compositionally similar SIN3 complexes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and mammals have been isolated and characterized, illustrating the conservation of SIN3 complex proteins among eukaryotes (11, 13). This similarity further suggests that the essential functions of these complexes may be conserved as well.In yeast, two distinct mechanisms of SI...