This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goetze, S. Articles by Bode, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goetze, S. Articles by Bode, J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2005, p. 2260-2272, Vol. 25, No. 6
0270-7306/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.25.6.2260-2272.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Performance of Genomic Bordering Elements at Predefined Genomic Loci

Sandra Goetze,^1, Alexandra Baer,^1, Silke Winkelmann,¹ Kristina Nehlsen,¹ Jost Seibler,^1, Karin Maass,¹ and Jürgen Bode^1*

German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF), Braunschweig, Germany¹

Received 23 June 2004/ Returned for modification 19 August 2004/ Accepted 6 December 2004

Eukaryotic DNA is organized into chromatin domains that regulate gene expression and chromosome behavior. Insulators and/or scaffold-matrix attachment regions (S/MARs) mark the boundaries of these chromatin domains where they delimit enhancing and silencing effects from the outside. By recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE), we were able to compare these two types of bordering elements at a number of predefined genomic loci. Flanking an expression vector with either S/MARs or two copies of the non-S/MAR chicken hypersensitive site 4 insulator demonstrates that while these borders confer related expression characteristics at most loci, their effect on chromatin organization is clearly distinct. Our results suggest that the activity of bordering elements is most pronounced for the abundant class of loci with a low but negligible expression potential in the case of highly expressed sites. By the RMCE procedure, we demonstrate that expression parameters are not due to a potential targeting action of bordering elements, in the sense that a linked transgene is directed into a special class of loci. Instead, we can relate the observed transcriptional augmentation phenomena to their function as genomic insulators.

---

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF), RDIF/Epigenetic Regulation, Mascheroder Weg 1, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. Phone: 49 (531) 6181-251. Fax: 49 (531) 6181-262. E-mail: jbo{at}gbf.de.

Present address: Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam (UvA), 1098 EL Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Present address: Symphogen A/S, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark.

Present address: ARTEMIS Pharmaceuticals GmbH, 51063 Cologne, Germany.

---

Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2005, p. 2260-2272, Vol. 25, No. 6
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.25.6.2260-2272.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Linnemann, A. K., Platts, A. E., Krawetz, S. A. (2009). Differential nuclear scaffold/matrix attachment marks expressed genes. Hum Mol Genet 18: 645-654 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Rincon-Arano, H., Furlan-Magaril, M., Recillas-Targa, F. (2007). Protection against telomeric position effects by the chicken cHS4 beta-globin insulator. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 14044-14049 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Winkelmann, S., Klar, M., Benham, C., Prashanth, A., Goetze, S., Gluch, A., Bode, J. (2006). The positive aspects of stress: strain initiates domain decondensation (SIDD). Brief Funct Genomic Proteomic 5: 24-31 [Abstract] [Full Text]