Ho Yugong, Tadevosyan Aleksey, Liebhaber Stephen A, Cooke Nancy E
Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
EMBO Rep. 2008 Sep;9(9):891-8. doi: 10.1038/embor.2008.126. Epub 2008 Jul 18.
Nonlinear chromatin configurations can juxtapose widely separated elements within a genomic locus; however, it remains unclear how these structures are established and contribute to transcriptional control. A 5'-remote locus control region (LCR) regulates the human growth hormone (hGH-N) gene. HSI, a pituitary-specific component of the hGH LCR, establishes a domain of polymerase II (PolII) transcription 5' to hGH-N. Repression of this transcriptional domain by HSI deletion or PolII blockade decreases hGH-N expression. Here, we show that hGH-N activation is accompanied by positioning of the hGH-N promoter to this LCR transcriptional domain. Selectively blocking LCR transcription inhibits the formation of this active 'looped' conformation. Thus, HSI is crucial for establishing a domain of noncoding PolII transcription, and this domain is intimately linked with chromatin organization of the active hGH-N locus. This integration of LCR transcription with chromatin reconfiguration constitutes a robust pathway for long-range gene activation.
非线性染色质构型可使基因组位点内广泛分离的元件并列;然而,这些结构是如何建立的以及如何促进转录调控仍不清楚。一个5'远端基因座控制区(LCR)调控人类生长激素(hGH-N)基因。HSI是hGH LCR的垂体特异性组分,在hGH-N的5'端建立了一个聚合酶II(PolII)转录结构域。通过HSI缺失或PolII阻断对该转录结构域的抑制会降低hGH-N的表达。在这里,我们表明hGH-N的激活伴随着hGH-N启动子定位到该LCR转录结构域。选择性阻断LCR转录会抑制这种活跃的“环状”构象的形成。因此,HSI对于建立非编码PolII转录结构域至关重要,并且该结构域与活跃的hGH-N基因座的染色质组织密切相关。LCR转录与染色质重排的这种整合构成了一种强大的远程基因激活途径。