Erratum: RNA recognition and translational regulation by a homeodomain protein

Main

In this Article, we presented genetic and biochemical evidence that Bicoid (Bcd) protein binds and regulates the translation of caudal (cad) messenger RNA through direct interactions between the Bcd homeodomain and a discrete target sequence in the 3′ UTR of cad mRNA, the Bcd response element (BRE). Although our main findings have been verified by additional experiments (see page 634 in this issue)¹, we cannot reproduce a subset of the results under the conditions initially reported.

The results we cannot repeat are: (1) the ultraviolet crosslinking and band-shift experiments which provided evidence for sequence-specific interactions between the Bcd homeodomain and the BRE Figs 4c and 5); and (2) a bicistronic transcript experiment (Fig. 6) which provided evidence that the BRE mediates Bcd-dependent regulation of Cad at the level of translational initiation. However, biochemical evidence that the Bcd homeodomain can bind the BRE in a sequence-specific fashion has now been obtained in independent experiments using different binding conditions¹. In addition, we have successfully repeated the key genetic experiments indicating that Bcd regulates Cad expression in a way that depends on both the Bcd homeodomain and the cad BRE (see Figs 1, 2c i, v and vi, 2d vi (bcd⁺, bcd^E1), and 3 of our Article).

These errors do not alter our main interpretation that the homeodomain of Bcd mediates RNA recognition and translational regulation by the intact protein, but we apologize for any confusion they may have caused.