Journal article

Publication year: 2005

Pages: 165-170

Journal: EMBO Reports

Volume number: 6

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 1469-221X

eISSN: 1469-3178

Open access status: Green

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.embor.7400334

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 
Eukaryotic transcriptional regulation often involves regulatory elements separated from the cognate genes by long distances, whereas appropriately positioned insulator or enhancer-blocking elements shield promoters from illegitimate enhancer action. Four proteins have been identified in Drosophila mediating enhancer blocking - Su(Hw), Zw5, BEAF32 and GAGA factor. In vertebrates, the single protein CTCF, with 11 highly conserved zinc fingers, confers enhancer blocking in all known chromatin insulators. Here, we characterize an orthologous CTCF factor in Drosophila with a similar domain structure, binding site specificity and transcriptional repression activity as in vertebrates. In addition, we demonstrate that one of the insulators (Fab-8) in the Drosophila Abdominal-B locus mediates enhancer blocking by dCTCF. Therefore, the enhancer-blocking protein CTCF and, most probably, the mechanism of enhancer blocking mediated by this remarkably versatile factor are conserved from Drosophila to humans.

Harvard Citation style: Moon, H., Filippova, G., Loukinov, D., Pugacheva, E., Chen, Q., Smith, S., et al. (2005) CTCF is conserved from Drosophila to humans and confers enhancer blocking of the Fab-8 insulator, EMBO Reports, 6(2), pp. 165-170. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.embor.7400334

APA Citation style: Moon, H., Filippova, G., Loukinov, D., Pugacheva, E., Chen, Q., Smith, S., Munhall, A., Grewe, B., Bartkuhn, M., Arnold, R., Burke, L., Renkawitz-Pohl, R., Ohlsson, R., Zhou, J., Renkawitz, R., & Lobanenkov, V. (2005). CTCF is conserved from Drosophila to humans and confers enhancer blocking of the Fab-8 insulator. EMBO Reports. 6(2), 165-170. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.embor.7400334