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Zeste can facilitate long-range enhancer–promoter communication and insulator bypass in Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

The looping model of enhancer–promoter interactions predicts that these specific long-range interactions are supported by a certain class of proteins. In particular, the Drosophila transcription factor Zeste was hypothesized to facilitate long-distance associations between enhancers and promoters. We have re-examined the role of Zeste in supporting long-range interactions between an enhancer and a promoter using the white gene as a model system. The results show that Zeste binds to the upstream white promoter region and the enhancer that is responsible for white activation in the eyes. We have confirmed the previous finding that Zeste is not required for the activity of the eye enhancer and the promoter when they are located in close proximity to each other. However, inactivation of Zeste markedly affects the enhancer–promoter communication in transgenes when the eye enhancer and the white promoter are separated by a 3-kb spacer or the yellow gene. Zeste is also required for insulator bypass by the eye enhancer. Taken together, these results show that Zeste can support specific long-range interactions between enhancers and promoters.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to N.A. Gorgolyuk for his help in preparing the manuscript. This study was supported by the MD-268-2003-04 grant, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects nos. 06-04-48360-а, 09-04-00273-а), the Young Scientists Support Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences (project no. 15/2006-2009 to M.K.), a stipend from the Center for Medical Studies, Oslo University (to L.M.), grant no. 02.512.11.2252 from the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation, the Molecular and Cell 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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Author notes

  1. Ekaterina Savitskaya

    Present address: BIOENGINEERING Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. 60-letiya Oktyabrya 7/1, Moscow, 119312, Russia

  2. Marina Karakozova

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

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Margarita Kostyuchenko, Ekaterina Savitskaya, Elizaveta Koryagina, Larisa Melnikova, Marina Karakozova & Pavel Georgiev

  2. Centre for Medical Studies of Oslo University, 34/5 Vavilov Street, Moscow, 119334, Russia

    Larisa Melnikova

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  1. Margarita Kostyuchenko
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Correspondence to Pavel Georgiev.

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Communicated by R. Paro

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Kostyuchenko, M., Savitskaya, E., Koryagina, E. et al. Zeste can facilitate long-range enhancer–promoter communication and insulator bypass in Drosophila melanogaster . Chromosoma 118, 665–674 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-009-0226-4

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