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Molecular and Cellular Biology, November 2001, p. 7714-7720, Vol. 21, No. 22
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.22.7714-7720.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The gypsy Insulator Can Act as a Promoter-Specific Transcriptional Stimulator

Wei Wei and Mark D. Brennan*

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40202

Received 13 July 2001/Accepted 13 August 2001

Insulators define chromosomal domains such that an enhancer in one domain cannot activate a promoter in a different domain. We show that the Drosophila gypsy insulator behaves as a cis-stimulatory element in the larval fat body. Transcriptional stimulation by the insulator is distance dependent, as expected for a promoter element as opposed to an enhancer. Stimulation of a test alcohol dehydrogenase promoter requires a binding site for a GATA transcription factor, suggesting that the insulator may be facilitating access of this DNA binding protein to the promoter. Short-range stimulation requires both the Suppressor of Hairy-wing protein and the Mod(mdg4)-62.7 protein encoded by the trithorax group gene mod(mdg4). In the absence of interaction with Mod(mdg4)-62.7, the insulator is converted into a short-range transcriptional repressor but retains some cis-stimulatory activity over longer distances. These results indicate that insulator and promoter sequences share important characteristics and are not entirely distinct. We propose that the gypsy insulator can function as a promoter element and may be analogous to promoter-proximal regulatory modules that integrate input from multiple distal enhancer sequences.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Louisville Medical School, Louisville, KY 40202. Phone: (502) 852-1646. Fax: (502) 852-6222. E-mail: MDBREN01{at}LOUISVILLE.EDU.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, November 2001, p. 7714-7720, Vol. 21, No. 22
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.22.7714-7720.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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