Department of the Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 34/5 Vavilov St, Moscow 119334, Russia.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2011 Apr;39(8):3042-52. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkq1248. Epub 2010 Dec 10.
Expression of the genes Ubx, abd-A, and Abd-B of the bithorax complex depends on its cis-regulatory region, which is divided into discrete functional domains (iab). Boundary/insulator elements, named Mcp, Fab-6, Fab-7 and Fab-8 (PTS/F8), have been identified at the borders of the iab domains. Recently, binding sites for a Drosophila homolog of the vertebrate insulator protein CTCF have been identified in Mcp, Fab-6 and Fab-8 and also in several regions that correspond to predicted boundaries, Fab-3 and Fab-4 in particular. Taking into account the inability of the yeast GAL4 activator to stimulate the white promoter when the activator and the promoter are separated by a 5-kb yellow gene, we have tested functional interactions between the boundaries. The results show that all dCTCF-containing boundaries interact with each other. However, inactivation of dCTCF binding sites in Mcp, Fab-6 and PTS/F8 only partially reduces their ability to interact, suggesting the presence of additional protein(s) supporting distant interactions between the boundaries. Interestingly, only Fab-6, Fab-7 (which contains no dCTCF binding sites) and PTS/F8 interact with the upstream region of the Abd-B promoter. Thus, the boundaries might be involved in supporting the specific interactions between iab enhancers and promoters of the bithorax complex.
双胸复合体基因 Ubx、abd-A 和 Abd-B 的表达取决于其顺式调控区,该区域被分为离散的功能域(iab)。边界/绝缘子元件,命名为 Mcp、Fab-6、Fab-7 和 Fab-8(PTS/F8),已在 iab 域的边界处被鉴定。最近,在 Mcp、Fab-6 和 Fab-8 以及对应于预测边界的几个区域(特别是 Fab-3 和 Fab-4)中,已经鉴定出与脊椎动物绝缘子蛋白 CTCF 的果蝇同源物的结合位点。考虑到酵母 GAL4 激活剂不能在激活剂和启动子之间被 5kb 的黄色基因隔开时刺激白色启动子时的无能,我们已经测试了边界之间的功能相互作用。结果表明,所有含有 dCTCF 的边界都相互作用。然而,Mcp、Fab-6 和 PTS/F8 中的 dCTCF 结合位点失活仅部分降低了它们相互作用的能力,表明存在额外的蛋白质(s)支持边界之间的远距离相互作用。有趣的是,只有 Fab-6、Fab-7(不含 dCTCF 结合位点)和 PTS/F8 与 Abd-B 启动子的上游区域相互作用。因此,边界可能参与支持iab 增强子和双胸复合体启动子之间的特异性相互作用。