image: The hybrid sterility gene Odysseus, is shown to bind exclusively to heterochromatic regions of the genome. Hybrid sterility is caused by the interaction of the Odysseus protein from Drosophila mauritiana species with the genome of its sibling species, Drosophila simulans. This panel shows that while both species' Odysseus proteins localize to heterochromatin (OdsH-sim on the left panel, OdsH-mau in the middle and both together in the right panel), it is the D. mauritiana Odysseus protein's inappropriate localization to and decondensation of the D. simulans Y chromosome (middle panel) that may be the underlying cause of male hybrid sterility. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Oct. 22, 2009, issue of Science Express, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. J. J. Bayes at University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues, was titled, "Altered Heterochromatin Binding by a Hybrid Sterility Protein in Drosophila Sibling Species." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of <i>Science</i>/AAAS