Gene Symbol: trx
Description: trithorax
Alias: 4720, 4733, CG8651, DMTRXIII, Dmel\CG8651, NR0A5, R-bx, Rg-bx, TRX, Trx, Trx-G, Trx/MLL, l(3)bx[v], l(3)j14A6, l(3)j3A2, l(3)s5452, tqrx, trx-g, trxI and trxII, trithorax, CG8651-PA, CG8651-PB, CG8651-PC, CG8651-PD, CG8651-PE, regulator of bithorax, trx-PA, trx-PB, trx-PC, trx-PD, trx-PE
Species: fruit fly
Products:     trx

Top Publications

  1. Breen T, Harte P. Molecular characterization of the trithorax gene, a positive regulator of homeotic gene expression in Drosophila. Mech Dev. 1991;35:113-27 pubmed
    The Drosophila gene trithorax (trx) is required for the normal expression of a number of the homeotic genes in the bithorax complex (BX-C) and the Antennapedia complex (ANT-C)...
  2. Shearn A. The ash-1, ash-2 and trithorax genes of Drosophila melanogaster are functionally related. Genetics. 1989;121:517-25 pubmed
    ..a wide variety of homeotic transformations that are similar to the transformations caused by mutations in the trithorax gene...
  3. Lagarou A, Mohd Sarip A, Moshkin Y, Chalkley G, Bezstarosti K, Demmers J, et al. dKDM2 couples histone H2A ubiquitylation to histone H3 demethylation during Polycomb group silencing. Genes Dev. 2008;22:2799-810 pubmed publisher
    ..In vivo, dKDM2 shares many transcriptional targets with Polycomb and counteracts the histone methyltransferases TRX and ASH1...
  4. Rozovskaia T, Tillib S, Smith S, Sedkov Y, Rozenblatt Rosen O, Petruk S, et al. Trithorax and ASH1 interact directly and associate with the trithorax group-responsive bxd region of the Ultrabithorax promoter. Mol Cell Biol. 1999;19:6441-7 pubmed
    b>Trithorax (TRX) and ASH1 belong to the trithorax group (trxG) of transcriptional activator proteins, which maintains homeotic gene expression during Drosophila development...
  5. González I, Busturia A. High levels of dRYBP induce apoptosis in Drosophila imaginal cells through the activation of reaper and the requirement of trithorax, dredd and dFADD. Cell Res. 2009;19:747-57 pubmed publisher
    Drosophila RYBP (dRYBP; Ring1 and YY1 Binding Protein) is a Polycomb and trithorax interacting protein, whose homologous RYBP/DEDAF mammalian counterparts exhibit tumor cell-specific killing activity...
  6. Rozenblatt Rosen O, Rozovskaia T, Burakov D, Sedkov Y, Tillib S, Blechman J, et al. The C-terminal SET domains of ALL-1 and TRITHORAX interact with the INI1 and SNR1 proteins, components of the SWI/SNF complex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998;95:4152-7 pubmed
    The ALL-1 gene was discovered by virtue of its involvement in human acute leukemia. Its Drosophila homolog trithorax (trx) is a member of the trx-Polycomb gene family, which maintains correct spatial expression of the Antennapedia and ..
  7. Enderle D, Beisel C, Stadler M, Gerstung M, Athri P, Paro R. Polycomb preferentially targets stalled promoters of coding and noncoding transcripts. Genome Res. 2011;21:216-26 pubmed publisher
    The Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) of proteins are required for stable and heritable maintenance of repressed and active gene expression states...
  8. Collins R, Furukawa T, Tanese N, Treisman J. Osa associates with the Brahma chromatin remodeling complex and promotes the activation of some target genes. EMBO J. 1999;18:7029-40 pubmed
    ..We show evidence that some Brahma-containing complexes do not contain Osa and that Osa is not required to localize Brahma to chromatin. These data suggest that Osa modulates the function of the Brahma complex. ..
  9. Smith S, Petruk S, Sedkov Y, Cho E, Tillib S, Canaani E, et al. Modulation of heat shock gene expression by the TAC1 chromatin-modifying complex. Nat Cell Biol. 2004;6:162-7 pubmed
    ..H3 Lys 4-specific (H3-K4) methyltransferase (HMTase) activity and histone acetyltransferase activity through Trithorax (Trx) and CREB-binding protein (CBP), respectively...

More Information


  1. Sims R, Nishioka K, Reinberg D. Histone lysine methylation: a signature for chromatin function. Trends Genet. 2003;19:629-39 pubmed
    In Drosophila, the Trithorax-group (trxG) and Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins interact with chromosomal elements, termed Cellular Memory Modules (CMMs)...
  3. Bantignies F, Goodman R, Smolik S. Functional interaction between the coactivator Drosophila CREB-binding protein and ASH1, a member of the trithorax group of chromatin modifiers. Mol Cell Biol. 2000;20:9317-30 pubmed
    ..the PKA-C1/DCO gene, encoding the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP protein kinase, and ash1, a member of the trithorax group (trxG) of chromatin modifiers...
  4. Petruk S, Sedkov Y, Smith S, Tillib S, Kraevski V, Nakamura T, et al. Trithorax and dCBP acting in a complex to maintain expression of a homeotic gene. Science. 2001;294:1331-4 pubmed
    b>Trithorax (Trx) is a member of the trithorax group (trxG) of epigenetic regulators, which is required to maintain active states of Hox gene expression during development...
  5. Casares F, Bender W, Merriam J, Sánchez Herrero E. Interactions of Drosophila Ultrabithorax regulatory regions with native and foreign promoters. Genetics. 1997;145:123-37 pubmed
    ..The deletion derivatives also stimulate transvection, a pairing-dependent interaction with the Ubx promoter on the homologous chromosome. ..
  7. Stassen M, Bailey D, Nelson S, Chinwalla V, Harte P. The Drosophila trithorax proteins contain a novel variant of the nuclear receptor type DNA binding domain and an ancient conserved motif found in other chromosomal proteins. Mech Dev. 1995;52:209-23 pubmed
    The products of the trithorax gene are required to stably maintain homeotic gene expression patterns established during embryo-genesis by the action of the transiently expressed segmentation genes...
  8. Fanti L, Perrini B, Piacentini L, Berloco M, Marchetti E, Palumbo G, et al. The trithorax group and Pc group proteins are differentially involved in heterochromatin formation in Drosophila. Chromosoma. 2008;117:25-39 pubmed
    In Drosophila, the Polycomb group and trithorax group proteins play a critical role in controlling the expression states of homeotic gene complexes during development...
    ..Histone H3 methylated in vitro by the E(Z)/ESC complex binds specifically to Polycomb protein. ..
  10. Poux S, Horard B, Sigrist C, Pirrotta V. The Drosophila trithorax protein is a coactivator required to prevent re-establishment of polycomb silencing. Development. 2002;129:2483-93 pubmed
    Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax (TRX) complexes assemble at Polycomb response elements (PREs) and maintain respectively the repressed and active state of homeotic genes...
  11. Srinivasan S, Dorighi K, Tamkun J. Drosophila Kismet regulates histone H3 lysine 27 methylation and early elongation by RNA polymerase II. PLoS Genet. 2008;4:e1000217 pubmed publisher
    Polycomb and trithorax group proteins regulate cellular pluripotency and differentiation by maintaining hereditable states of transcription...
  12. Jones R, Gelbart W. The Drosophila Polycomb-group gene Enhancer of zeste contains a region with sequence similarity to trithorax. Mol Cell Biol. 1993;13:6357-66 pubmed
    ..A second class of loci, collectively known as the trithorax group, plays an antagonistic role as positive regulators of the ANT-C and BX-C genes...
  13. Orlando V, Jane E, Chinwalla V, Harte P, Paro R. Binding of trithorax and Polycomb proteins to the bithorax complex: dynamic changes during early Drosophila embryogenesis. EMBO J. 1998;17:5141-50 pubmed
    ..The Polycomb group (PcG) and trithorax group (trxG) genes encode proteins involved in chromatin remodelling...
  14. Tariq M, Nussbaumer U, Chen Y, Beisel C, Paro R. Trithorax requires Hsp90 for maintenance of active chromatin at sites of gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106:1157-62 pubmed publisher
    ..Here, we show a direct molecular interaction between Hsp90 and Trithorax (Trx)...
    Polycomb group (PcG) and trithorax group (trxG) proteins are conserved chromatin factors that regulate key developmental genes throughout development...
  16. Lopez A, Higuet D, Rosset R, Deutsch J, Peronnet F. corto genetically interacts with Pc-G and trx-G genes and maintains the anterior boundary of Ultrabithorax expression in Drosophila larvae. Mol Genet Genomics. 2001;266:572-83 pubmed first initiated by gap and pair-rule genes and then maintained by genes of the Polycomb-group (Pc-G) and the trithorax-group (trx-G)...
  17. Petruk S, Sedkov Y, Johnston D, Hodgson J, Black K, Kovermann S, et al. TrxG and PcG proteins but not methylated histones remain associated with DNA through replication. Cell. 2012;150:922-33 pubmed publisher
    ..Methylated H3 is detected on DNA only in nuclei not in S phase. In contrast, the TrxG and PcG proteins Trithorax and Enhancer-of-Zeste, which are H3K4 and H3K27 methylases, and Polycomb continuously associate with their ..
  18. Dillon S, Zhang X, Trievel R, Cheng X. The SET-domain protein superfamily: protein lysine methyltransferases. Genome Biol. 2005;6:227 pubmed
    ..The SET-domain protein methyltransferase superfamily includes all but one of the proteins known to methylate histones on lysine. Histone methylation is important in the regulation of chromatin and gene expression. ..
    Drosophila Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) proteins are responsible for the maintenance of stable transcription patterns of many developmental regulators, such as the homeotic genes...
  20. Kennison J, Tamkun J. Dosage-dependent modifiers of polycomb and antennapedia mutations in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988;85:8136-40 pubmed
    ..e., Sex combs reduced (Scr), Brista (Ba), trithorax (trx), Polycomb (Pc), Polycomblike (Pcl), and Sex comb on midleg (Scm)]...
  21. Carrington E, Jones R. The Drosophila Enhancer of zeste gene encodes a chromosomal protein: examination of wild-type and mutant protein distribution. Development. 1996;122:4073-83 pubmed
    ..Finally, we describe the effect a trithorax mutation has on E(Z) chromosome binding.
  22. Klymenko T, Muller J. The histone methyltransferases Trithorax and Ash1 prevent transcriptional silencing by Polycomb group proteins. EMBO Rep. 2004;5:373-7 pubmed
    ..states of HOX genes and other developmental control genes are maintained by antagonistic regulators encoded by trithorax group (trxG) and Polycomb group (PcG) genes...
  23. Capotosti F, Hsieh J, Herr W. Species selectivity of mixed-lineage leukemia/trithorax and HCF proteolytic maturation pathways. Mol Cell Biol. 2007;27:7063-72 pubmed
    ..The histone modification activity of the human trithorax group mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) protein and the cell cycle regulatory activity of the cell proliferation ..
  24. Breen T, Chinwalla V, Harte P. Trithorax is required to maintain engrailed expression in a subset of engrailed-expressing cells. Mech Dev. 1995;52:89-98 pubmed
    We show that maintenance but not initiation of engrailed (en) gene expression in the Drosophila embryo requires trithorax (trx), which is also required to maintain stable long-term expression of the homeotic genes throughout the ..
  25. Zraly C, Marenda D, Nanchal R, Cavalli G, Muchardt C, Dingwall A. SNR1 is an essential subunit in a subset of Drosophila brm complexes, targeting specific functions during development. Dev Biol. 2003;253:291-308 pubmed
    ..Thus, SNR1 is essential for some, but not all Brm functions, and it likely serves as an optional subunit, directing Brm complex activity to specific gene loci or cellular processes. ..
  26. Chinwalla V, Jane E, Harte P. The Drosophila trithorax protein binds to specific chromosomal sites and is co-localized with Polycomb at many sites. EMBO J. 1995;14:2056-65 pubmed
    b>trithorax is required to stably maintain homeotic gene expression patterns established during embryogenesis by the action of the transiently expressed products of the segmentation genes...
  27. Rodriguez Jato S, Busturia A, Herr W. Drosophila melanogaster dHCF interacts with both PcG and TrxG epigenetic regulators. PLoS ONE. 2011;6:e27479 pubmed publisher
    ..states of cell fate-determining genes are maintained throughout development by Polycomb Group (PcG) and Trithorax Group (TrxG) genes, respectively...
  28. Schwartz Y, Kahn T, Stenberg P, Ohno K, Bourgon R, Pirrotta V. Alternative epigenetic chromatin states of polycomb target genes. PLoS Genet. 2010;6:e1000805 pubmed publisher
    ..evidence indicates that critical for the active state of PcG target genes are the histone methyltransferases Trithorax (TRX) and ASH1...
  29. Hagstrom K, Muller M, Schedl P. A Polycomb and GAGA dependent silencer adjoins the Fab-7 boundary in the Drosophila bithorax complex. Genetics. 1997;146:1365-80 pubmed
    ..The iab-7 PRE silencer is contained within a 0.8-kb fragment that spans a nuclease hypersensitive site, and silencing appears to depend on the chromatin remodeling protein, the GAGA factor. ..
  30. Petruk S, Sedkov Y, Riley K, Hodgson J, Schweisguth F, Hirose S, et al. Transcription of bxd noncoding RNAs promoted by trithorax represses Ubx in cis by transcriptional interference. Cell. 2006;127:1209-21 pubmed
    ..bithorax complex (BX-C) prevent silencing of Ultrabithorax (Ubx) and recruit activating proteins of the trithorax group (trxG) to their maintenance elements (MEs)...
  31. Déjardin J, Cavalli G. Chromatin inheritance upon Zeste-mediated Brahma recruitment at a minimal cellular memory module. EMBO J. 2004;23:857-68 pubmed
    Polycomb group and trithorax group proteins maintain the memory of repressed and active chromatin states by regulating chromatin of their target genes via DNA sequences termed Polycomb- and trithorax response elements...
  32. Garaulet D, Foronda D, Calleja M, Sánchez Herrero E. Polycomb-dependent Ultrabithorax Hox gene silencing induced by high Ultrabithorax levels in Drosophila. Development. 2008;135:3219-28 pubmed publisher
    ..Similar results are obtained with the gene engrailed, showing that this mechanism of permanent repression may be a general one for genes with negative auto-regulation when levels of expression are transitorily elevated. ..
  33. Mohan M, Herz H, Smith E, Zhang Y, Jackson J, Washburn M, et al. The COMPASS family of H3K4 methylases in Drosophila. Mol Cell Biol. 2011;31:4310-8 pubmed publisher
    ..which was originally purified based on the similarity of yeast Set1 to human MLL1 and Drosophila melanogaster Trithorax (Trx)...
  34. Brown J, Fritsch C, Mueller J, Kassis J. The Drosophila pho-like gene encodes a YY1-related DNA binding protein that is redundant with pleiohomeotic in homeotic gene silencing. Development. 2003;130:285-94 pubmed
    ..In contrast to Pho and Pho-like, removal of Trithorax-like/GAGA factor or Zeste, two other DNA-binding proteins implicated in PRE function, does not cause ..
  35. Gellon G, McGinnis W. Shaping animal body plans in development and evolution by modulation of Hox expression patterns. Bioessays. 1998;20:116-25 pubmed
    ..maintenance of Hox expression pattern seem more conserved among different phyla, and rely on the action of Pc and trx group genes as well as auto- and cross-regulation among Hox genes...
  36. Kahn T, Schwartz Y, Dellino G, Pirrotta V. Polycomb complexes and the propagation of the methylation mark at the Drosophila ubx gene. J Biol Chem. 2006;281:29064-75 pubmed
    ..Both the spread of methylation from the Polycomb response elements, and the silencing effect can be blocked by the gypsy insulator. ..
  37. DeVido S, Kwon D, Brown J, Kassis J. The role of Polycomb-group response elements in regulation of engrailed transcription in Drosophila. Development. 2008;135:669-76 pubmed publisher
    ..Our data are consistent with the model that engrailed PREs bring chromatin together, allowing both positive and negative regulatory interactions between distantly located DNA fragments. ..
  38. Petruk S, Smith S, Sedkov Y, Mazo A. Association of trxG and PcG proteins with the bxd maintenance element depends on transcriptional activity. Development. 2008;135:2383-90 pubmed publisher
    Polycomb group (PcG) and trithorax group (trxG) proteins act in an epigenetic fashion to maintain active and repressive states of expression of the Hox and other target genes by altering their chromatin structure...
  39. González I, Aparicio R, Busturia A. Functional characterization of the dRYBP gene in Drosophila. Genetics. 2008;179:1373-88 pubmed publisher
    ..the PcG and trxG genes, they enhance the phenotypes of mutations of either the Sex comb extra gene (PcG) or the trithorax gene (trxG)...
  40. Gerasimova T, Corces V. Polycomb and trithorax group proteins mediate the function of a chromatin insulator. Cell. 1998;92:511-21 pubmed
    ..The results suggest a model in which PcG and TrxG proteins regulate insulator function by establishing higher order domains of chromatin organization required for the assembly of functional insulators at the nuclear matrix. ..
  41. Chen X, Hiller M, Sancak Y, Fuller M. Tissue-specific TAFs counteract Polycomb to turn on terminal differentiation. Science. 2005;310:869-72 pubmed
    ..TAFs bind to target promoters, reduce Polycomb binding, and promote local accumulation of H3K4me3, a mark of Trithorax action...
  42. Bejarano F, González I, Vidal M, Busturia A. The Drosophila RYBP gene functions as a Polycomb-dependent transcriptional repressor. Mech Dev. 2005;122:1118-29 pubmed
    The Polycomb and trithorax groups of genes control the maintenance of homeotic gene expression in a variety of organisms. A putative participant in the regulation of this process is the murine RYBP (Ring and YY1 Binding Protein) gene...
  43. Sedkov Y, Benes J, Berger J, Riker K, Tillib S, Jones R, et al. Molecular genetic analysis of the Drosophila trithorax-related gene which encodes a novel SET domain protein. Mech Dev. 1999;82:171-9 pubmed
    The products of the trithorax and Polycomb groups genes maintain the activity and silence, respectively, of many developmental genes including genes of the homeotic complexes...
  44. Tie F, Banerjee R, Stratton C, Prasad Sinha J, Stepanik V, Zlobin A, et al. CBP-mediated acetylation of histone H3 lysine 27 antagonizes Drosophila Polycomb silencing. Development. 2009;136:3131-41 pubmed publisher
    ..The Trithorax protein (TRX), which associates with the histone acetyltransferase CBP, is required for maintenance of ..
  45. Tamkun J, Deuring R, Scott M, Kissinger M, Pattatucci A, Kaufman T, et al. brahma: a regulator of Drosophila homeotic genes structurally related to the yeast transcriptional activator SNF2/SWI2. Cell. 1992;68:561-72 pubmed
  46. Kuzin B, Tillib S, Sedkov Y, Mizrokhi L, Mazo A. The Drosophila trithorax gene encodes a chromosomal protein and directly regulates the region-specific homeotic gene fork head. Genes Dev. 1994;8:2478-90 pubmed
    The activity of the Drosophila gene trithorax is required to maintain the proper spatial pattern of expression of multiple homeotic genes of the Bithorax and Antennapedia complexes, trithorax encodes two large protein isoforms of > ..
  47. Tripoulas N, Lajeunesse D, Gildea J, Shearn A. The Drosophila ash1 gene product, which is localized at specific sites on polytene chromosomes, contains a SET domain and a PHD finger. Genetics. 1996;143:913-28 pubmed
    ..The stability of these patterns requires the function of the ash1 gene, a member of the trithorax group. The primary translation product of the 7...
  48. Carbonell A, Mazo A, Serras F, Corominas M. Ash2 acts as an ecdysone receptor coactivator by stabilizing the histone methyltransferase Trr. Mol Biol Cell. 2013;24:361-72 pubmed publisher
    ..hormone activation, the ecdysone receptor (EcR) binds to the SET domain-containing histone H3 methyltransferase trithorax-related protein (Trr)...
  49. Cuddapah S, Roh T, Cui K, Jose C, Fuller M, Zhao K, et al. A novel human polycomb binding site acts as a functional polycomb response element in Drosophila. PLoS ONE. 2012;7:e36365 pubmed publisher
  50. Vatolina T, Demakov S, Semeshin V, Makunin I, Babenko V, Beliaeva E, et al. [Identification and molecular genetic characterization of the polytene chromosome interbands in Drosophila melanogaster]. Genetika. 2011;47:597-609 pubmed
    ..In both cell types, interband regions contained open chromatin markers, including RNA polymerase II, ORC, GAF, TRX, and acetylated histones...
  51. Follmer N, Wani A, Francis N. A polycomb group protein is retained at specific sites on chromatin in mitosis. PLoS Genet. 2012;8:e1003135 pubmed publisher
  52. Kavi H, Fernandez H, Xie W, Birchler J. Polycomb, pairing and PIWI--RNA silencing and nuclear interactions. Trends Biochem Sci. 2006;31:485-7 pubmed
    ..These Pc-associated sequences are involved with the control of the proper expression of developmental HOX genes. ..
  53. de Navas L, Foronda D, Suzanne M, Sánchez Herrero E. A simple and efficient method to identify replacements of P-lacZ by P-Gal4 lines allows obtaining Gal4 insertions in the bithorax complex of Drosophila. Mech Dev. 2006;123:860-7 pubmed
    ..Our experiments confirm that the abdominal-A gene can replace Ultrabithorax in haltere development but that it cannot substitute for Abdominal-B in the formation of the genitalia. ..
  54. Herrera S, Morata G. Transgressions of compartment boundaries and cell reprogramming during regeneration in Drosophila. elife. 2014;3:e01831 pubmed publisher
    ..DOI: ..
  55. Felsenfeld A, Kennison J. Positional signaling by hedgehog in Drosophila imaginal disc development. Development. 1995;121:1-10 pubmed
    ..The results suggest that hedgehog protein acts in the wing as a signal to instruct neighboring cells to adopt fates appropriate to the region of the wing just anterior to the compartmental boundary. ..
  56. Ingham P. trithorax and the regulation of homeotic gene expression in Drosophila: a historical perspective. Int J Dev Biol. 1998;42:423-9 pubmed
    Animals homozygous for a spontaneously arising allele of the trithorax (trx) gene exhibit highly variegated homoeotic transformations of their thoracic and abdominal segments...
  57. Faucheux M, Netter S, Bloyer S, Moussa M, Boissonneau E, Lemeunier F, et al. Advantages of a P-element construct containing MtnA sequences for the identification of patterning and cell determination genes in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol Genet Genomics. 2001;265:14-22 pubmed
    ..classes: genes involved in leg morphogenesis (including four-jointed and spitz), and genes of the Polycomb- or trithorax-Group, including trithorax and batman, a new gene which encodes a product with a BTB/POZ domain...