Figure 4. Silencing induced by NCenH3^CID depends on a conserved simple arginine (R)-rich motif.

(A) Amino acid sequence of the N-terminal domain of D. melanogaster CenH3^CID. Sequence motives (B1, B2 and B3) that are conserved amongst distant Drosophila species are indicated. (B–E) The eye phenotype of S9.2 flies expressing the indicated NCenH3^CID-lacI deletions (+) is compared to that of siblings where no fused protein is expressed (−). Results are presented for both female and male individuals. (F) Quantitative analysis is presented for lines expressing the indicated constructs. Relative fold silencing is expressed as the ratio between OD₄₈₀ of control S9.2 lines expressing no fused protein and that of lines expressing each construct. Results correspond to the average of four (NCenH3^CIDR/A), three (NCenH3^CID), and two (NCenH3^CIDΔR and NCenH3^CIDΔB3) independent lines. See Figure S4 for a description of the constructs.