The RNA-binding protein Rumpelstiltskin antagonizes gypsy chromatin insulator function in a tissue-specific manner.

ABSTRACT

Chromatin insulators are DNA-protein complexes that are situated throughout the genome that are proposed to contribute to higher-order organization and demarcation into distinct transcriptional domains. Mounting evidence in different species implicates RNA and RNA-binding proteins as regulators of chromatin insulator activities. Here, we identify the Drosophila hnRNP M homolog Rumpelstiltskin (Rump) as an antagonist of gypsy chromatin insulator enhancer-blocking and barrier activities. Despite ubiquitous expression of Rump, decreasing Rump levels leads to improvement of barrier activity only in tissues outside of the central nervous system (CNS). Furthermore, rump mutants restore insulator body localization in an insulator mutant background only in non-CNS tissues. Rump associates physically with core gypsy insulator proteins, and chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing analysis of Rump demonstrates extensive colocalization with a subset of insulator sites across the genome. The genome-wide binding profile and tissue specificity of Rump contrast with that of Shep, a recently identified RNA-binding protein that antagonizes gypsy insulator activity primarily in the CNS. Our findings indicate parallel roles for RNA-binding proteins in mediating tissue-specific regulation of chromatin insulator activity.