Two new insulator proteins, Pita and ZIPIC, target CP190 to chromatin.

Insulators are multiprotein-DNA complexes that regulate the nuclear architecture. The Drosophila CP190 protein is a cofactor for the DNA-binding insulator proteins Su(Hw), CTCF, and BEAF-32. The fact that CP190 has been found at genomic sites devoid of either of the known insulator factors has until now been unexplained. We have identified two DNA-binding zinc-finger proteins, Pita, and a new factor named ZIPIC, that interact with CP190 in vivo and in vitro at specific interaction domains. Genomic binding sites for these proteins are clustered with CP190 as well as with CTCF and BEAF-32. Model binding sites for Pita or ZIPIC demonstrate a partial enhancer-blocking activity and protect gene expression from PRE-mediated silencing. The function of the CTCF-bound MCP insulator sequence requires binding of Pita. These results identify two new insulator proteins and emphasize the unifying function of CP190, which can be recruited by many DNA-binding insulator proteins.

Drosophila CP190- and dCTCF-mediated enhancer blocking is augmented by SUMOylation.

BACKGROUND: Chromatin insulators shield promoters and chromatin domains from neighboring enhancers or chromatin regions with opposing activities. Insulator-binding proteins and their cofactors mediate the boundary function. In general, covalent modification of proteins by the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) is an important mechanism to control the interaction of proteins within complexes. RESULTS: Here we addressed the impact of dSUMO in respect of insulator function, chromatin binding of insulator factors and formation of insulator speckles in Drosophila. SUMOylation augments the enhancer blocking function of four different insulator sequences and increases the genome-wide binding of the insulator cofactor CP190. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that enhanced chromatin binding of SUMOylated CP190 causes fusion of insulator speckles, which may allow for more efficient insulation.

Insulator speckles associated with long-distance chromatin contacts.

Nuclear foci of chromatin binding factors are, in many cases, discussed as sites of long-range chromatin interaction in the three-dimensional nuclear space. Insulator binding proteins have been shown to aggregate into insulator bodies, which are large structures not involved in insulation; however, the more diffusely distributed insulator speckles have not been analysed in this respect. Furthermore, insulator binding proteins have been shown to drive binding sites for Polycomb group proteins into Polycomb bodies. Here we find that insulator speckles, marked by the insulator binding protein dCTCF, and Polycomb bodies show differential association with the insulator protein CP190. They differ in number and three-dimensional location with only 26% of the Polycomb bodies overlapping with CP190. By using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes to identify long-range interaction (kissing) of the Hox gene clusters Antennapedia complex (ANT-C) and Bithorax complex (BX-C), we found the frequency of interaction to be very low. However, these rare kissing events were associated with insulator speckles at a significantly shorter distance and an increased speckle number. This suggests that insulator speckles are associated with long-distance interaction.

The HMG-box-containing proteins tHMG-1 and tHMG-2 interact during the histone-to-protamine transition in Drosophila spermatogenesis.

Spermatogenesis is accompanied by a remarkable reorganization of the chromatin in post-meiotic stages, characterized by a near genome-wide displacement of histones by protamines and a transient expression of transition proteins. In Drosophila, the transition-protein-like protein Tpl94D contains an HMG-box domain and is expressed during chromatin reorganization. Here, we searched for additional HMG-box-containing proteins with a similar expression pattern. We identified two proteins specifically expressed in the testis, tHMG-1 and tHMG-2, whose expression levels were highest during the histone-to-protamine transition. Protein-protein interaction studies revealed that tHMG-1 and tHMG-2 form heterodimers in vivo. We demonstrated that Tpl94D, tHMG-1 and tHMG-2 localize to chromatin of the male germ line, with the most abundant levels observed during post-meiotic chromatin reorganization. Analysis of a tpl94D mutant showed that the C-terminal region of Tpl94D is dispensable for fertility. These data strongly suggested either that the truncated protein, which still contains the N-terminal HMG-box domain, is functional or that other proteins act in functional redundancy with Tpl94D during spermiogenesis. A thmg-1/thmg-2 null mutant also had no detectable specific phenotype, but hmgz, which encodes the major somatic HMG-box-containing protein HMGZ, was transcriptionally up-regulated. Our results showed that Drosophila spermatogenesis is characterized by continuous and overlapping expression of different HMG-box-containing proteins. We hypothesize that the mechanism of chromatin reorganization is a process highly secured by redundancies.

A functional insulator screen identifies NURF and dREAM components to be required for enhancer-blocking.

Chromatin insulators of higher eukaryotes functionally divide the genome into active and inactive domains. Furthermore, insulators regulate enhancer/promoter communication, which is evident from the Drosophila bithorax locus in which a multitude of regulatory elements control segment specific gene activity. Centrosomal protein 190 (CP190) is targeted to insulators by CTCF or other insulator DNA-binding factors. Chromatin analyses revealed that insulators are characterized by open and nucleosome depleted regions. Here, we wanted to identify chromatin modification and remodelling factors required for an enhancer blocking function. We used the well-studied Fab-8 insulator of the bithorax locus to apply a genome-wide RNAi screen for factors that contribute to the enhancer blocking function of CTCF and CP190. Among 78 genes required for optimal Fab-8 mediated enhancer blocking, all four components of the NURF complex as well as several subunits of the dREAM complex were most evident. Mass spectrometric analyses of CTCF or CP190 bound proteins as well as immune precipitation confirmed NURF and dREAM binding. Both co-localise with most CP190 binding sites in the genome and chromatin immune precipitation showed that CP190 recruits NURF and dREAM. Nucleosome occupancy and histone H3 binding analyses revealed that CP190 mediated NURF binding results in nucleosomal depletion at CP190 binding sites. Thus, we conclude that CP190 binding to CTCF or to other DNA binding insulator factors mediates recruitment of NURF and dREAM. Furthermore, the enhancer blocking function of insulators is associated with nucleosomal depletion and requires NURF and dREAM.