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Science 19 January 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5503, pp. 493 - 495
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5503.493
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Reports

Effects of cis Arrangement of Chromatin Insulators on Enhancer-Blocking Activity

Haini N. Cai,* Ping Shen

Chromatin boundary elements or insulators are believed to regulate gene activity in complex genetic loci by organizing specialized chromatin structures. Here, we report that the enhancer-blocking activity of the Drosophila suHw insulator is sensitive to insulator copy number and position. Two tandem copies of suHw were ineffective in blocking various enhancers from a downstream promoter. Moreover, an enhancer was blocked more effectively from a promoter by two flanking suHw insulators than by a single intervening one. Thus, insulators may modulate enhancer-promoter interactions by interacting with each other and facilitating the formation of chromatin loop domains.

Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Science 291, 447-450
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Science 291, 495-498
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