InterPro domain: IPR007858

This motif is about 40 residues long and is probably formed of two alpha-helices. It is found in the Dpy-30 proteins, hence the motifs name. Dpy-30 from Caenorhabditis elegans is an essential component of dosage compensation machinery and loss of dpy-30 activity results in XX-specific lethality; in XO animals, Dpy-30 is required for developmental processes other than dosage compensation [ 1 ]. In yeast, the homologue of DPY-30, Saf19p, functions as part of the Set1 complex that is necessary for the methylation of histone H3 at lysine residue 4; Set1 is a key part of epigenetic developmental control [ 2 ]. There is also a human homologue of Dpy-30 [ 3 ]. This Dpy-30 region may be a dimerisation motif analogous that found in the cAMP-dependent protein kinase regulator, type II PKA, R subunit IPR003117 .

1. DPY-30, a nuclear protein essential early in embryogenesis for Caenorhabditis elegans dosage compensation. Development 121, 3323-34
2. A trithorax-group complex purified from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for methylation of histone H3. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 90-4
3. Characterization and crystallization of human DPY-30-like protein, an essential component of dosage compensation complex. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1753, 257-62