Study of long-distance functional interactions between Su(Hw) insulators that can regulate enhancer-promoter communication in Drosophila melanogaster.
The Su(Hw) insulator found in the gypsy retrotransposon is the most potent enhancer blocker in Drosophila melanogaster. However, two such insulators in tandem do not prevent enhancer-promoter communication, apparently because of their pairing interaction that results in mutual neutralization. Furthering our studies of the role of insulators in the control of gene expression, here we present a functional analysis of a large set of transgenic constructs with various arrangements of regulatory elements, including two or three insulators. We demonstrate that their interplay can have quite different outcomes depending on the order of and distance between elements. Thus, insulators can interact with each other over considerable distances, across interposed enhancers or promoters and coding sequences, whereby enhancer blocking may be attenuated, cancelled, or restored. Some inferences concerning the possible modes of insulator action are made from collating the new data and the relevant literature, with tentative schemes illustrating the regulatory situations in particular model constructs.
Savitskaya
Ekaterina
E
Department of the Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119334, Russia.
Melnikova
Larisa
L
Kostuchenko
Margarita
M
Kravchenko
Elena
E
Pomerantseva
Ekaterina
E
Boikova
Tatiana
T
Chetverina
Darya
D
Parshikov
Aleksander
A
Zobacheva
Polyna
P
Gracheva
Elena
E
Galkin
Alexander
A
Georgiev
Pavel
P
D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D038101:Insulator Elements / Q000502:physiology*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D018626:Retroelements / Q000235:genetics*
D018626:Retroelements