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PMID: 11604507 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

The gypsy insulator can act as a promoter-specific transcriptional stimulator.

Molecular and cellular biology ·Vol. 21 ·No. 22 ·2001-11-00 ·Pages 7714-20

Wei W, Brennan MD

Abstract

Insulators define chromosomal domains such that an enhancer in one domain cannot activate a promoter in a different domain. We show that the Drosophila gypsy insulator behaves as a cis-stimulatory element in the larval fat body. Transcriptional stimulation by the insulator is distance dependent, as expected for a promoter element as opposed to an enhancer. Stimulation of a test alcohol dehydrogenase promoter requires a binding site for a GATA transcription factor, suggesting that the insulator may be facilitating access of this DNA binding protein to the promoter. Short-range stimulation requires both the Suppressor of Hairy-wing protein and the Mod(mdg4)-62.7 protein encoded by the trithorax group gene mod(mdg4). In the absence of interaction with Mod(mdg4)-62.7, the insulator is converted into a short-range transcriptional repressor but retains some cis-stimulatory activity over longer distances. These results indicate that insulator and promoter sequences share important characteristics and are not entirely distinct. We propose that the gypsy insulator can function as a promoter element and may be analogous to promoter-proximal regulatory modules that integrate input from multiple distal enhancer sequences.

MeSH Terms
Alcohol Dehydrogenase/genetics Animals DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics,metabolism Drosophila/genetics Drosophila Proteins Gene Expression Regulation Genes, Insect Nuclear Proteins/genetics,metabolism Promoter Regions, Genetic Recombinant Proteins/genetics,metabolism Repressor Proteins/genetics,metabolism Retroelements Transcription Factors/genetics,metabolism Transcription, Genetic
Chemicals
DNA-Binding Proteins Drosophila Proteins Nuclear Proteins Recombinant Proteins Repressor Proteins Retroelements Transcription Factors mdg4 protein (gypsy) su(Hw) protein, Drosophila Alcohol Dehydrogenase
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Wei W
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Louisville, Kentucky 40202, USA.
Brennan M D
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular and cellular biology
Abbr.
Mol Cell Biol
ISSN
0270-7306
DOI
10.1128/MCB.21.22.7714-7720.2001
Published
2001-11-00
Pages
7714-20
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8109087
PMCID
PMC99942
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.22.7714-7720.2001 PMC Full Text View journal details
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