Effects of cis arrangement of chromatin insulators on enhancer-blocking activity.
Chromatin boundary elements or insulators are believed to regulate gene activity in complex genetic loci by organizing specialized chromatin structures. Here, we report that the enhancer-blocking activity of the Drosophila suHw insulator is sensitive to insulator copy number and position. Two tandem copies of suHw were ineffective in blocking various enhancers from a downstream promoter. Moreover, an enhancer was blocked more effectively from a promoter by two flanking suHw insulators than by a single intervening one. Thus, insulators may modulate enhancer-promoter interactions by interacting with each other and facilitating the formation of chromatin loop domains.
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Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
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D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D018628:Gene Dosage; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017344:Genes, Insect; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D018626:Retroelements; D019076:Transgenes
D002843:Chromatin; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D018626:Retroelements; C083738:su(Hw) protein, Drosophila; D004247:DNA