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PMID: 22722341 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Drosophila CTCF tandemly aligns with other insulator proteins at the borders of H3K27me3 domains.

Genome research ·Vol. 22 ·No. 11 ·2012-11-00 ·Pages 2176-87

Van Bortle K, Ramos E, Takenaka N, Yang J, Wahi JE, Corces VG

Abstract

Several multiprotein DNA complexes capable of insulator activity have been identified in Drosophila melanogaster, yet only CTCF, a highly conserved zinc finger protein, and the transcription factor TFIIIC have been shown to function in mammals. CTCF is involved in diverse nuclear activities, and recent studies suggest that the proteins with which it associates and the DNA sequences that it targets may underlie these various roles. Here we show that the Drosophila homolog of CTCF (dCTCF) aligns in the genome with other Drosophila insulator proteins such as Suppressor of Hairy wing [SU(HW)] and Boundary Element Associated Factor of 32 kDa (BEAF-32) at the borders of H3K27me3 domains, which are also enriched for associated insulator proteins and additional cofactors. RNAi depletion of dCTCF and combinatorial knockdown of gene expression for other Drosophila insulator proteins leads to a reduction in H3K27me3 levels within repressed domains, suggesting that insulators are important for the maintenance of appropriate repressive chromatin structure in Polycomb (Pc) domains. These results shed new insights into the roles of insulators in chromatin domain organization and support recent models suggesting that insulators underlie interactions important for Pc-mediated repression. We reveal an important relationship between dCTCF and other Drosophila insulator proteins and speculate that vertebrate CTCF may also align with other nuclear proteins to accomplish similar functions.

MeSH Terms
Animals CCCTC-Binding Factor Chromatin/chemistry,metabolism DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics,metabolism Drosophila Proteins/genetics,metabolism Drosophila melanogaster/genetics,metabolism Eye Proteins/genetics,metabolism Genome, Insect Histones/chemistry,genetics,metabolism Insulator Elements Polycomb-Group Proteins/metabolism Protein Binding Protein Structure, Tertiary RNA, Small Interfering Repressor Proteins/genetics,metabolism
Chemicals
BEAF-32 protein, Drosophila CCCTC-Binding Factor CTCF protein, Drosophila Chromatin DNA-Binding Proteins Drosophila Proteins Eye Proteins Histones Polycomb-Group Proteins RNA, Small Interfering Repressor Proteins su(Hw) protein, Drosophila
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Van Bortle Kevin
Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Ramos Edward
Takenaka Naomi
Yang Jingping
Wahi Jessica E
Corces Victor G
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Article Info
Journal
Genome research
Abbr.
Genome Res
ISSN
1549-5469
DOI
10.1101/gr.136788.111
Published
2012-11-00
Epub
2012-00-21
Pages
2176-87
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
9518021
PMCID
PMC3483547
Subset
IM
Grants
NCI NIH HHS · K01 CA133106 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM035463 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · CA133106 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM35463 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1101/gr.136788.111 PMC Full Text View journal details
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