Characterization of the interaction between the zinc-finger transcription factor,schnurri and the signal transduction factor, mothers against dpp

schnurri is a transcription factor containing eight zinc fingers which acts in the decapentaplegic signal transduction pathway. decapentaplegic is a secreted signaling factor homologous to Bone Morphogenetic Proteins 2 and 4 which controls numerous patterning processes in Drosophila. mothers against dpp is a DNA-binding signal transduction molecule which responds to the receptor-mediated dpp signal by entering the nucleus, interacting with transcription co-factors and binding to the promoters of gene targets of dpp. I showed that schnurri interacts physically with mothers against dpp and characterized the interactions as localizing to discrete domains on the two proteins and I compared the intensity of the interactions. To examine whether other protein factors play a role in the decapentaplegic pathway by interacting with schnurri, I screened a library of Drosophila derived cDNA via the yeast two-hybrid method. I cloned several proteins which interacted physically with schnurri in the yeast two-hybrid system and analyzed their sequence to determine their possible role in the decapentaplegic pathway.