The Role of Insulator Elements in Large-scale Chromatin Structure in Interphase

Overview

Journal Semin Cell Dev Biol

Specialties Cell Biology
Reproductive Medicine

Date 2007 Oct 9

PMID 17919949

Citations 28

Authors

Elizabeth R Dorman

Ashley M Bushey

Victor G Corces

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Insulator elements can be classified as enhancer-blocking or barrier insulators depending on whether they interfere with enhancer-promoter interactions or act as barriers against the spreading of heterochromatin. The former class may exert its function at least in part by attaching the chromatin fiber to a nuclear substrate such as the nuclear matrix, resulting in the formation of chromatin loops. The latter class functions by recruiting histone-modifying enzymes, although some barrier insulators have also been shown to create chromatin loops. These loops may correspond to functional nuclear domains containing clusters of co-expressed genes. Thus, insulators may determine specific patterns of nuclear organization that are important in establishing specific programs of gene expression during cell differentiation and development.

Citing Articles

Nuclear architecture and the structural basis of mitotic memory.

Soujanya M, Bihani A, Hajirnis N, Pathak R, Mishra R Chromosome Res. 2023; 31(1):8.

PMID: 36725757 DOI: 10.1007/s10577-023-09714-y.

Stonewall prevents expression of ectopic genes in the ovary and accumulates at insulator elements in D. melanogaster.

Zinshteyn D, Barbash D PLoS Genet. 2022; 18(3):e1010110.

PMID: 35324887 PMC: 8982855. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010110.

The Dm-Myb Oncoprotein Contributes to Insulator Function and Stabilizes Repressive H3K27me3 PcG Domains.

Santana J, Parida M, Long A, Wankum J, Lilienthal A, Nukala K Cell Rep. 2020; 30(10):3218-3228.e5.

PMID: 32160531 PMC: 7172335. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.02.053.

Ectopically tethered CP190 induces large-scale chromatin decondensation.

Ahanger S, Gunther K, Weth O, Bartkuhn M, Bhonde R, Shouche Y Sci Rep. 2014; 4:3917.

PMID: 24472778 PMC: 3905270. DOI: 10.1038/srep03917.

Long-range chromosome organization in E. coli: a site-specific system isolates the Ter macrodomain.

Thiel A, Valens M, Vallet-Gely I, Espeli O, Boccard F PLoS Genet. 2012; 8(4):e1002672.

PMID: 22532809 PMC: 3330122. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002672.

References

Yusufzai T, Tagami H, Nakatani Y, Felsenfeld G . CTCF tethers an insulator to subnuclear sites, suggesting shared insulator mechanisms across species. Mol Cell. 2004; 13(2):291-8. DOI: 10.1016/s1097-2765(04)00029-2. View

Noma K, Cam H, Maraia R, Grewal S . A role for TFIIIC transcription factor complex in genome organization. Cell. 2006; 125(5):859-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.04.028. View

Bi X, Broach J . DNA in transcriptionally silent chromatin assumes a distinct topology that is sensitive to cell cycle progression. Mol Cell Biol. 1997; 17(12):7077-87. PMC: 232564. DOI: 10.1128/MCB.17.12.7077. View

Fourel G, Boscheron C, Revardel E, Lebrun E, Hu Y, Simmen K . An activation-independent role of transcription factors in insulator function. EMBO Rep. 2001; 2(2):124-32. PMC: 1083820. DOI: 10.1093/embo-reports/kve024. View

West A, Huang S, Gaszner M, Litt M, Felsenfeld G . Recruitment of histone modifications by USF proteins at a vertebrate barrier element. Mol Cell. 2004; 16(3):453-63. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2004.10.005. View

Donze D, Adams C, Rine J, Kamakaka R . The boundaries of the silenced HMR domain in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genes Dev. 1999; 13(6):698-708. PMC: 316548. DOI: 10.1101/gad.13.6.698. View

Sutter N, Scalzo D, Fiering S, Groudine M, Martin D . Chromatin insulation by a transcriptional activator. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003; 100(3):1105-10. PMC: 298734. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.242732999. View

Ishii K, Arib G, Lin C, Van Houwe G, Laemmli U . Chromatin boundaries in budding yeast: the nuclear pore connection. Cell. 2002; 109(5):551-62. DOI: 10.1016/s0092-8674(02)00756-0. View

Klenova E, Ohlsson R . Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and epigenetics. Is CTCF PARt of the plot?. Cell Cycle. 2005; 4(1):96-101. DOI: 10.4161/cc.4.1.1398. View

10.

Labrador M, Corces V . Setting the boundaries of chromatin domains and nuclear organization. Cell. 2002; 111(2):151-4. DOI: 10.1016/s0092-8674(02)01004-8. View

11.

Udvardy A, Maine E, Schedl P . The 87A7 chromomere. Identification of novel chromatin structures flanking the heat shock locus that may define the boundaries of higher order domains. J Mol Biol. 1985; 185(2):341-58. DOI: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90408-5. View

12.

Hart C, Zhao K, Laemmli U . The scs' boundary element: characterization of boundary element-associated factors. Mol Cell Biol. 1997; 17(2):999-1009. PMC: 231825. DOI: 10.1128/MCB.17.2.999. View

13.

Muravyova E, Golovnin A, Gracheva E, Parshikov A, Belenkaya T, Pirrotta V . Loss of insulator activity by paired Su(Hw) chromatin insulators. Science. 2001; 291(5503):495-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5503.495. View

14.

Cohen B, Mitra R, Hughes J, Church G . A computational analysis of whole-genome expression data reveals chromosomal domains of gene expression. Nat Genet. 2000; 26(2):183-6. DOI: 10.1038/79896. View

15.

Lercher M, Urrutia A, Hurst L . Clustering of housekeeping genes provides a unified model of gene order in the human genome. Nat Genet. 2002; 31(2):180-3. DOI: 10.1038/ng887. View

16.

Kuhn E, Viering M, Rhodes K, Geyer P . A test of insulator interactions in Drosophila. EMBO J. 2003; 22(10):2463-71. PMC: 155999. DOI: 10.1093/emboj/cdg241. View

17.

Blanton J, Gaszner M, Schedl P . Protein:protein interactions and the pairing of boundary elements in vivo. Genes Dev. 2003; 17(5):664-75. PMC: 196003. DOI: 10.1101/gad.1052003. View

18.

Morcillo P, Rosen C, Dorsett D . Genes regulating the remote wing margin enhancer in the Drosophila cut locus. Genetics. 1996; 144(3):1143-54. PMC: 1207607. DOI: 10.1093/genetics/144.3.1143. View

19.

Gaszner M, Felsenfeld G . Insulators: exploiting transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms. Nat Rev Genet. 2006; 7(9):703-13. DOI: 10.1038/nrg1925. View

20.

Melnikova L, Juge F, Gruzdeva N, Mazur A, Cavalli G, Georgiev P . Interaction between the GAGA factor and Mod(mdg4) proteins promotes insulator bypass in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004; 101(41):14806-11. PMC: 522021. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0403959101. View