The Drosophila su(Hw) gene, which controls the phenotypic effect of the gypsy transposable element, encodes a putative DNA-binding protein.

Parkhurst, Susan M.; Harrison, Douglas A.; Remington, Mary P.; Spana, Carl; Kelley, R. L.; Coyne, Robert S.; Corcés, Victor G.

doi:10.1101/gad.2.10.1205

Cited by 180 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…To observe the eye color in flies carrying this element, the transgene was crossed into y w 67c23 ; su(Hw) 8 background. This mutant allele of su(Hw) was caused by the insertion of 0.7 kb of jockey into the first intron, resulting in greatly reduced levels of mRNA (Parkhurst et al 1988) and protein (Harrison et al 1993). While Harrison et al (1993) describe this mutation as a weak suppressor of y 2 , we find it to be a strong suppressor.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Two Distinct Domains in Drosophila melanogaster Telomeres

et al. 2005

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Telomeres are generally considered heterochromatic. On the basis of DNA composition, the telomeric region of Drosophila melanogaster contains two distinct subdomains: a subtelomeric region of repetitive DNA, termed TAS, and a terminal array of retrotransposons, which perform the elongation function instead of telomerase. We have identified several P-element insertions into this retrotransposon array and compared expression levels of transgenes with similar integrations into TAS and euchromatic regions. In contrast to insertions in TAS, which are silenced, reporter genes in the terminal HeT-A, TAHRE, or TART retroelements did not exhibit repressed expression in comparison with the same transgene construct in euchromatin. These data, in combination with cytological studies, provide evidence that the subtelomeric TAS region exhibits features resembling heterochromatin, while the terminal retrotransposon array exhibits euchromatic characteristics. D NA sequences at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes are the products of a telomere elongation process. In most eukaryotes, these sequences are simple repeating units that are synthesized by telomerase, but in Drosophila melanogaster they are tandem head-to-tail arrays of three non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons, HeT-A, TAHRE, and TART ( Despite these differences, a common feature of eukaryotic chromosomes is a region of complex repeats located adjacent to the terminal sequences. These complex repeats are referred to as subtelomeric regions, or telomere-associated sequences (TAS), and differ in sequence, structure, and length among species and among telomeres within an individual (Pryde et al. 1997). The repetitive nature and the high density of transposable elements in these subtelomeric regions (Mefford and Trask 2002) are reminiscent of heterochromatin. In D. melanogaster, TAS consist of several kilobases of complex repeats, which exhibit similarities between the different chromosome ends. Sequences of the 2L and X TAS regions have been described in detail (Karpen and Spradling 1992;Walter et al. 1995), and in situ hybridizations to polytene chromosomes showed that 2L TAS share homology with 3L TAS, while X TAS share homology with 2R and 3R TAS. The 2L TAS appear to be 15 kb in length and composed of relatively simple

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Two Distinct Domains in Drosophila melanogaster Telomeres

et al. 2005

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“…Su(Hw) is a DNA-binding protein containing 12 zinc-finger domains, which binds to the YRTTGCA TACCY repeats present in the su(Hw) element from the gypsy reterotransposon (Parkhurst et al 1988;Geyer and Corces 1992;Parnell et al 2006;Ramos et al 2006). Mod(mdg4) is a BTB/POZ domain-containing protein that can interact with Su(Hw), other components of the su(Hw) insulator, and itself to form insulator bodies (Parkhurst et al 1988;Geyer and Corces 1992;Gerasimova and Corces 1998;Gerasimova et al 2000;Ghosh et al 2001). To test whether the ap wing phenotypes observed in ap f00451 flies are due to the presence of the su(Hw) boundary element, ap f00451 flies were crossed to mutants in su(Hw) and mod(mdg4).…”

Section: Mm-mcpmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The y 2 allele is an insertion of the gypsy retrotransposon between the y gene and the y wing and body enhancers (Geyer et al 1990;Morris et al 1999a). The gypsy retrotransposon contains 12 degenerate binding sites for the Suppressor of Hairy-Wing (SuHw) protein, which are sufficient to function as a boundary element (Parkhurst et al 1988;Spana et al 1988;Geyer and Corces 1992). Both homozygous y 2 flies and y 2 /Df flies have strong yellow phenotypes in their wings and bodies.…”

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confidence: 99%

Enhancer Blocking and Transvection at the DrosophilaapterousLocus

et al. 2008

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Intra-and interchromosomal interactions have been implicated in a number of genetic phenomena in diverse organisms, suggesting that the higher-order structural organization of chromosomes in the nucleus can have a profound impact on gene regulation. In Drosophila, homologous chromosomes remain paired in somatic tissues, allowing for trans interactions between genes and regulatory elements on the two homologs. One consequence of homolog pairing is the phenomenon of transvection, in which regulatory elements on one homolog can affect the expression of a gene in trans. We report a new instance of transvection at the Drosophila apterous (ap) locus. Two different insertions of boundary elements in the ap regulatory region were identified. The boundaries are inserted between the ap wing enhancer and the ap promoter and have highly penetrant wing defects typical of mutants in ap. When crossed to an ap promoter deletion, both boundary inserts exhibit the interallelic complementation characteristic of transvection. To confirm that transvection occurs at ap, we generated a deletion of the ap wing enhancer by FRT-mediated recombination. When the wing-enhancer deletion is crossed to the ap promoter deletion, strong transvection is observed. Interestingly, the two boundary elements, which are inserted $10 kb apart, fail to block enhancer action when they are present in trans to one another. We demonstrate that this is unlikely to be due to insulator bypass. The transvection effects described here may provide insight into the role that boundary element pairing plays in enhancer blocking both in cis and in trans.

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“…This insulator is composed of a 340-bp sequence and several proteins, Suppressor of Hairy-wing [Su(Hw)], Modifier of (mgd4)2.2 [Mod(mdg4)2.2], and centrosomal protein 190 (CP190) (Parkhurst et al 1988;Georgiev and Gerasimova 1989;Pai et al 2004). A fourth protein component of the gypsy insulator dTopors may play a role in regulating its activity (Capelson and Corces 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic Organization of gypsy Chromatin Insulators in Drosophila melanogaster

Ramos

Ghosh²,

Baxter

et al. 2006

Genetics

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Chromatin insulators have been implicated in the regulation of higher-order chromatin structure and may function to compartmentalize the eukaryotic genome into independent domains of gene expression. To test this possibility, we used biochemical and computational approaches to identify gypsy-like genomicbinding sites for the Suppressor of Hairy-wing [Su(Hw)] protein, a component of the gypsy insulator. EMSA and FISH analyses suggest that these are genuine Su(Hw)-binding sites. In addition, functional tests indicate that genomic Su(Hw)-binding sites can inhibit enhancer-promoter interactions and thus function as bona fide insulators. The insulator strength is dependent on the genomic location of the transgene and the number of Su(Hw)-binding sites, with clusters of two to three sites showing a stronger effect than individual sites. These clusters of Su(Hw)-binding sites are located mostly in intergenic regions or in introns of large genes, an arrangement that fits well with their proposed role in the formation of chromatin domains. Taken together, these data suggest that genomic gypsy-like insulators may provide a means for the compartmentalization of the genome within the nucleus.

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The Drosophila su(Hw) gene, which controls the phenotypic effect of the gypsy transposable element, encodes a putative DNA-binding protein.

Cited by 180 publications

References 51 publications

Two Distinct Domains in Drosophila melanogaster Telomeres

Two Distinct Domains in Drosophila melanogaster Telomeres

Enhancer Blocking and Transvection at the DrosophilaapterousLocus

Genomic Organization of gypsy Chromatin Insulators in Drosophila melanogaster

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