title: The insulator protein CTCF regulates Drosophila steroidogenesis.
abstract: The steroid hormone ecdysone is a central regulator of insect development. In this report we show that CTCF expression in the prothoracic gland is required for full transcriptional activation of the Halloween genes spookier, shadow and noppera-bo, which encode ecdysone biosynthetic enzymes, and for proper timing of ecdysone-responsive gene expression. Loss of CTCF results in delayed and less synchronized larval development that can only be rescued by feeding larvae with both, the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone and cholesterol. Moreover, CTCF-knockdown in prothoracic gland cells leads to increased lipid accumulation. In conclusion, the insulator protein CTCF is required for Halloween gene expression and cholesterol homeostasis in ecdysone-producing cells controlling steroidogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, IBMB-CSIC, and Institute for Research in Biomedicine IRB, Barcelona 08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Ujué
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fresán
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, IBMB-CSIC, and Institute for Research in Biomedicine IRB, Barcelona 08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cuartero
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, IBMB-CSIC, and Institute for Research in Biomedicine IRB, Barcelona 08028, Spain Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA mlebmc@ibmb.csic.es.
authors.forename: M Lluisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Espinàs
keywords: CTCF; Developmental timing; Ecdysone; Halloween genes