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Functional analysis of Drosophila polytene chromosomes decompacted unit: the interband

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Abstract

Differential compaction of the interphase chromosomes is important for proper functioning of the eukaryotic genome. Such non-uniform compaction is most easily observed in Drosophila salivary gland polytene chromosomes as a reproducible banding pattern. Functional mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of the banding pattern remain unclear but have been hypothesized to involve transcription and chromatin insulators. We tested functional properties of DNA fragments from several transcriptionally inert interband regions that behave as autonomous decompacted units of polytene chromosomes. Our results suggest that, in the absence of transcription, the decondensed state of interband regions does not depend on the presence of insulator elements but instead correlates with the presence of transcriptional enhancers.

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Abbreviations

Adf-1:

alcohol dehydrogenase transcription factor 1

BEAF-32:

boundary element-associated factor of 32 kDa

DPE:

downstream promoter element

DREF:

(DNA replication-related element)-binding factor

EST:

expressed sequence tag

Inr:

initiator element

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

Su(Hw):

suppressor of Hairy-wing

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Pavel Georgiev and Ekaterina Savitskaya for providing us with fly stocks and antibodies against Adf-1 and to Ulrich K. Laemmli for antibodies against BEAF-32. We thank Stepan Belyakin for helpful discussion of the results and comments on the manuscript.

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grants nos. 06.04.48387 and 09.04.00409a; the program Leading Scientific Schools, grants nos. 918.2003.4, 942.2006.4, and 5104.2008.4; Government contracts nos. 02.512.11.2065 and 02.512.11.2145; Molecular and Cellular Biology program, grants nos. 10.1 and 10.3 from RAS and Interdisciplinary integrational project from SB RAS no. 45.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS, Lavrentyev ave, 8, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia

    Maria Berkaeva, Sergei Demakov & Igor Zhimulev

  2. Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Yuri B. Schwartz

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  1. Maria Berkaeva
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  2. Sergei Demakov
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  3. Yuri B. Schwartz
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  4. Igor Zhimulev
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Correspondence to Maria Berkaeva.

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Responsible Editor: Herbert Macgregor.

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Berkaeva, M., Demakov, S., Schwartz, Y.B. et al. Functional analysis of Drosophila polytene chromosomes decompacted unit: the interband. Chromosome Res 17, 745–754 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-009-9065-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-009-9065-7

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