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Science 19 January 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5503, pp. 495 - 498
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5503.495
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Reports

Loss of Insulator Activity by Paired Su(Hw) Chromatin Insulators

Ekaterina Muravyova,1 Anton Golovnin,123 Elena Gracheva,1 Aleksander Parshikov,1 Tatiana Belenkaya,1 Vincenzo Pirrotta,3* Pavel Georgiev1

Chromatin insulators are regulatory elements that block the action of transcriptional enhancers when interposed between enhancer and promoter. The Drosophila Suppressor of Hairy wing [Su(Hw)] protein binds the Su(Hw) insulator and prevents enhancer-promoter interaction by a mechanism that is not understood. We show that when two copies of the Su(Hw) insulator element, instead of a single one, are inserted between enhancer and promoter, insulator activity is neutralized and the enhancer-promoter interaction may instead be facilitated. This paradoxical phenomenon could be explained by interactions between protein complexes bound at the insulators.

1 Department of the Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117334.
2 Biomedical Center of Oslo University at the Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117334.
3 Department of Zoology, University of Geneva, CH1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pirrotta{at}zoo.unige.ch

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