Transvection in Drosophila: trans-interaction between yellow enhancers and promoter is strongly suppressed by a cis-promoter only in certain genomic regions.
Transvection is a phenomenon of interallelic communication whereby enhancers of one allele can activate a promoter located on the homologous chromosome. It has been shown for many independent genes that enhancers preferentially act on the cis-linked promoter, but deletion of this promoter allows the enhancers to act in trans. Here, we tested whether this cis-preference in the enhancer-promoter interaction could be reconstituted outside of the natural position of a gene. The yellow gene was chosen as a model system. Transgenic flies were generated that carried the yellow gene modified by the inclusion of the strategically placed recognition sites for the Cre and Flp recombinases. To facilitate transvection, an endogenous Su(Hw) insulator (1A2) or gypsy insulator was placed behind the yellow gene. Independent action of the recombinases produced a pair of derivative alleles, one containing the promoter-driven yellow gene, and the other, the enhancers and promoter that failed to produce a functional yellow protein. As a result, we observed strong transvection in many genomic regions, suggesting that a complete cis-preference of the enhancer-promoter interactions is mainly restricted to genes in their natural loci.
Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 119334.
Oksana
O
Kravchuk
Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, 90187, Umea, Sweden.
Maria
M
Kim
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
Pavel
P
Klepikov
Department of the Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 119334.
Alexander
A
Parshikov
Department of the Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 119334. georgiev_p@mail.ru.
Pavel
0000-0002-6509-3194
P
Georgiev
Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 119334. msavitsky@gmail.com.|Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, 90187, Umea, Sweden. msavitsky@gmail.com.
Mikhail
M
Savitsky
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D059006:Chromosomes, Insect / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
D029721:Drosophila Proteins
Chromatin insulators; Chromosome pairing; Enhancer–promoter communication; Su(Hw); Transcriptional regulation