Characterization of new regulatory elements within the Drosophila bithorax complex

Pérez-Lluch, Sílvia; Cuartero, Sergi; Azorı́n, Fernando; Espinás, Maria Lluı̈sa

doi:10.1093/nar/gkn818

Cited by 38 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In D. melanogaster, CTCF confers insulator activity to the Fab-6 and Fab-8 chromatin boundaries within the Bithorax Hox complex (BX-C) (10,41). With the exception of Fab-7, all known and postulated boundaries within BX-C bind CTCF in vivo (28 transformations (31,42).…”

Section: Conservation Of Ctcf Sites In Vertebrate and Drosophila Hox mentioning

confidence: 99%

The chromatin insulator CTCF and the emergence of metazoan diversity

Heger

Marin²,

Bartkuhn

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

172

173

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The great majority of metazoans belong to bilaterian phyla. They diversified during a short interval in Earth's history known as the Cambrian explosion, ∼540 million years ago. However, the genetic basis of these events is poorly understood. Here we argue that the vertebrate genome organizer CTCF (CCCTC-binding factor) played an important role for the evolution of bilaterian animals. We provide evidence that the CTCF protein and a genome-wide abundance of CTCF-specific binding motifs are unique to bilaterian phyla, but absent in other eukaryotes. We demonstrate that CTCF-binding sites within vertebrate and Drosophila Hox gene clusters have been maintained for several hundred million years, suggesting an ancient origin of the previously known interaction between Hox gene regulation and CTCF. In addition, a close correlation between the presence of CTCF and Hox gene clusters throughout the animal kingdom suggests conservation of the Hox-CTCF link across the Bilateria. On the basis of these findings, we propose the existence of a Hox-CTCF kernel as principal organizer of bilaterian body plans. Such a kernel could explain (i) the formation of Hox clusters in Bilateria, (ii) the diversity of bilaterian body plans, and (iii) the uniqueness and time of onset of the Cambrian explosion.

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Section: Conservation Of Ctcf Sites In Vertebrate and Drosophila Hox mentioning

confidence: 99%

The chromatin insulator CTCF and the emergence of metazoan diversity

Heger

Marin²,

Bartkuhn

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

172

173

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“…25,44 Using a transgenic enhancer-blocking assay, CP190 was also shown to be required for the boundary activity of HS1 insulator in the Drosophila bithorax complex. 55 Genome-wide ChIP-chip analysis has also revealed extensive overlap of CP190 with BEAF sites. 38 These results suggest that most of the insulator factors recruit CP190 as a co-factor and, therefore, may utilize a common mechanism for their insulator function.…”

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confidence: 99%

Functional sub-division of the Drosophila genome via chromatin looping

Ahanger

Shouche

Mishra

2013

Nucleus

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“…A recent study also documents a role for CTCF in regulating domain specific silencing at the Hoxa cluster by promoting PRC2-mediated repression (Xu et al, 2014). CTCF is similarly associated with H3K27me3 borders in the fly BX-C complex (Bowman et al, 2014) and known to bind to the boundary elements there (Moon et al, 2005;Pérez-Lluch et al, 2008).…”

Section: Boundary Activity At the Vertebrate Hox Clusters: A Role Formentioning

confidence: 87%

Epigenetic mechanisms and boundaries in the regulation of mammalian Hox clusters

Srivastava

Dhawan

Mishra

2015

Mechanisms of Development

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Hox gene expression imparts segment identity to body structures along the anterior-posterior axis and is tightly governed by higher order chromatin mechanisms. Chromatin regulatory features of the homeotic complex are best defined in Drosophila melanogaster, where multiple cis-regulatory elements have been identified that ensure collinear Hox gene expression patterns in accordance with their genomic organization. Recent studies focused on delineating the epigenetic features of the vertebrate Hox clusters have helped reveal their dynamic chromatin organization and its impact on gene expression. Enrichment for the 'activating' H3K4me3 and 'repressive' H3K27me3 histone modifications is a particularly strong read-out for transcriptional status and correlates well with the evidence for chromatin loop domain structures and stage specific topological changes at these loci. However, it is not clear how such distinct domains are imposed and regulated independent of each other. Comparative analysis of the chromatin structure and organization of the homeotic gene clusters in fly and mammals is increasingly revealing the functional conservation of chromatin mediated mechanisms. Here we discuss the case for interspersed boundary elements existing within mammalian Hox clusters along with their possible roles and mechanisms of action. Recent studies suggest a role for factors other than the well characterized vertebrate boundary factor CTCF, such as the GAGA binding factor (GAF), in maintaining chromatin domains at the Hox loci. We also present data demonstrating how such regulatory elements may be involved in organizing higher order structure and demarcating active domains of gene expression at the mammalian Hox clusters.

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Characterization of new regulatory elements within the Drosophila bithorax complex

Cited by 38 publications

References 36 publications

The chromatin insulator CTCF and the emergence of metazoan diversity

The chromatin insulator CTCF and the emergence of metazoan diversity

Functional sub-division of the Drosophila genome via chromatin looping

Epigenetic mechanisms and boundaries in the regulation of mammalian Hox clusters

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