The Insulator Protein CTCF Is Required for Correct <i>Hox</i> Gene Expression, but Not for Embryonic Development in <i>Drosophila</i>.

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Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The Insulator Protein CTCF Is Required for Correct <i>Hox</i> Gene Expression, but Not for Embryonic Development in <i>Drosophila</i>.
Journal
Genetics
Author(s)
Gambetta M.C., Furlong EEM
ISSN
1943-2631 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0016-6731
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
210
Number
1
Pages
129-136
Language
english
Abstract
Insulator binding proteins (IBPs) play an important role in regulating gene expression by binding to specific DNA sites to facilitate appropriate gene regulation. There are several IBPs in <i>Drosophila</i> , each defined by their ability to insulate target gene promoters in transgenic assays from the activating or silencing effects of neighboring regulatory elements. Of these, only CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) has an obvious ortholog in mammals. CTCF is essential for mammalian cell viability and is an important regulator of genome architecture. In flies, CTCF is both maternally deposited and zygotically expressed. Flies lacking zygotic CTCF die as young adults with homeotic defects, suggesting that specific <i>Hox</i> genes are misexpressed in inappropriate body segments. The lack of any major embryonic defects was assumed to be due to the maternal supply of CTCF protein, as maternally contributed factors are often sufficient to progress through much of embryogenesis. Here, we definitively determined the requirement of CTCF for developmental progression in <i>Drosophila</i> We generated animals that completely lack both maternal and zygotic CTCF and found that, contrary to expectation, these mutants progress through embryogenesis and larval life. They develop to pharate adults, which fail to eclose from their pupal case. These mutants show exacerbated homeotic defects compared to zygotic mutants, misexpressing the <i>Hox</i> gene <i>Abdominal-B</i> outside of its normal expression domain early in development. Our results indicate that loss of <i>Drosophila</i> CTCF is not accompanied by widespread effects on gene expression, which may be due to redundant functions with other IBPs. Rather, CTCF is required for correct <i>Hox</i> gene expression patterns and for the viability of adult <i>Drosophila</i> .
Keywords
CTCF, Chromatin contacts, Drosophila, Hox, Insulator binding proteins, embryonic development, genome architecture, long-range regulation, chromatin contacts
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
21/07/2018 9:21
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:54
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