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Transvection in Drosophila: trans-interaction between yellow enhancers and promoter is strongly suppressed by a cis-promoter only in certain genomic regions

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Abstract

Transvection is a phenomenon of interallelic communication whereby enhancers of one allele can activate a promoter located on the homologous chromosome. It has been shown for many independent genes that enhancers preferentially act on the cis-linked promoter, but deletion of this promoter allows the enhancers to act in trans. Here, we tested whether this cis-preference in the enhancer–promoter interaction could be reconstituted outside of the natural position of a gene. The yellow gene was chosen as a model system. Transgenic flies were generated that carried the yellow gene modified by the inclusion of the strategically placed recognition sites for the Cre and Flp recombinases. To facilitate transvection, an endogenous Su(Hw) insulator (1A2) or gypsy insulator was placed behind the yellow gene. Independent action of the recombinases produced a pair of derivative alleles, one containing the promoter-driven yellow gene, and the other, the enhancers and promoter that failed to produce a functional yellow protein. As a result, we observed strong transvection in many genomic regions, suggesting that a complete cis-preference of the enhancer–promoter interactions is mainly restricted to genes in their natural loci.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to N.A. Gorgolyuk for his help in preparing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 119334

    Oksana Kravchuk & Mikhail Savitsky

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, 90187, Umea, Sweden

    Maria Kim & Mikhail Savitsky

  3. Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Pavel Klepikov

  4. Department of the Control of Genetic Processes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 119334

    Alexander Parshikov & Pavel Georgiev

Authors
  1. Oksana Kravchuk
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  2. Maria Kim
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  3. Pavel Klepikov
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  4. Alexander Parshikov
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  5. Pavel Georgiev
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  6. Mikhail Savitsky
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Correspondence to Pavel Georgiev or Mikhail Savitsky.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 14-24-00166.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Kravchuk, O., Kim, M., Klepikov, P. et al. Transvection in Drosophila: trans-interaction between yellow enhancers and promoter is strongly suppressed by a cis-promoter only in certain genomic regions. Chromosoma 126, 431–441 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-016-0605-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-016-0605-6

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