dpy-26 encodes a novel, acidic protein that is highly conserved in other Caenorhabditis species; during development, dpy-26 activity is required for both dosage compensation and meiotic chromosome segregation; DPY-26 localizes to all meiotic chromosomes in the germline and to the hermaphrodite X chromosomes in somatic cells; SDC-1, SDC-2, and SDC-3 proteins form a complex and these three proteins, in turn, colocalize with DPY-26, DPY-27, and MIX-1 proteins both on the X chromosome and on a transgenic her-1(+) array.
Involved in dosage compensation by hypoactivation of X chromosome; meiotic sister chromatid segregation; and mitotic sister chromatid segregation. Located in condensed nuclear chromosome. Part of dosage compensation complex. Expressed widely.