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Interaction between a pair of gypsy insulators or between heterologous gypsy and Wari insulators modulates Flp site-specific recombination in Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

Chromatin insulators block the action of transcriptional enhancers when interposed between an enhancer and a promoter. An Flp technology was used to examine interactions between Drosophila gypsy and Wari insulators in somatic and germ cells. The gypsy insulator consists of 12 binding sites for the Su(Hw) protein, while the endogenous Wari insulator, located on the 3′ side of the white gene, is independent from the Su(Hw) protein. Insertion of the gypsy but not Wari insulator between FRT sites strongly blocks recombination between Flp dimers bound to FRT sites located on the same chromatid (recombination in cis) or in sister chromatids (unequal recombination in trans). At the same time, the interaction between Wari and gypsy insulators regulates the efficiency of Flp-mediated recombination. Thus, insulators may have a role in controlling interactions between distantly located protein complexes (not only those involved in transcriptional gene regulation) on the same chromosome or on sister chromatids in somatic and germ cells. We have also found that the frequency of Flp-mediated recombination between FRT sites is strongly dependent on the relative orientation of gypsy insulators. Taken together, our results indicate that the interactions between insulators can be visualized by Flp technology and that insulators may be involved in blocking undesirable interactions between proteins at the two-chromatid phase of the cell cycle.

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful to N.A. Gorgoluk for his help in preparing the manuscript. This study was supported by grant no. 02.512.11.2252 from the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation, the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the International Research Scholar Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (to P.G.).

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  1. Marina Karakozova

    Present address: Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 34/5 Vavilov St., Moscow, 119334, Russia

    Margarita Krivega, Ekaterina Savitskaya, Ivan Krivega, Marina Karakozova, Aleksander Parshikov & Pavel Georgiev

  2. Department of Drosophila Molecular Genetics, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 34/5 Vavilov St., Moscow, 119334, Russia

    Anton Golovnin

  3. Bioengineering Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. 60-letiya Oktyabrya 7/1, Moscow, 119312, Russia

    Ekaterina Savitskaya

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  1. Margarita Krivega
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Correspondence to Anton Golovnin or Pavel Georgiev.

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Communicated by S. Pimpinelli

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Krivega, M., Savitskaya, E., Krivega, I. et al. Interaction between a pair of gypsy insulators or between heterologous gypsy and Wari insulators modulates Flp site-specific recombination in Drosophila melanogaster . Chromosoma 119, 425–434 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-010-0268-7

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